Mosquito News and Research

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Thymol antimicrobial in corn starch can help fight mosquito-borne diseases

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the major vector for many urban arboviruses, which can cause serious conditions such as dengue fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, and yellow fever. Now, researchers have developed a cheap but effective larvicide using cornstarch.

7 Aug 2019

Study shows urgent need for long-term follow up of Zika-exposed infants

Even as the Zika virus raged in Brazil, clinicians observed a curious phenomenon: all babies born to mothers infected with the virus during pregnancy were not affected with the characteristic birth anomalies caused by this infection.

5 Aug 2019

Preventing parasites from adhering to mosquito guts could stop disease transmission

A group of microorganisms known as kinetoplastids includes the parasites that cause devastating diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis.

31 Jul 2019

Insecticide-treated bed net use is higher during rainy season, study finds

The more rainfall a region in sub-Saharan Africa gets, the more mosquitoes proliferate there and the more likely its residents will sleep under their insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria transmission, a new study from the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs suggests.

30 Jul 2019

Whole genome sequencing reveals role of CNVs in insecticide resistance in malaria mosquitoes

Researchers from LSTM, working alongside colleagues from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge and the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, have used whole genome sequencing to understand copy-number variants (CNVs) in malaria mosquitoes and their role in insecticide resistance.

27 Jul 2019

Researchers design nanodrone to detect toxic gases in emergencies

Detecting dangerous gases in collapsed buildings due earthquakes or explosions and identifying the presence of victims in places which are hard to access are some action scenarios of SNAV, a nanodrone designed and created by the researchers Santiago Marco and Javier Burgués, from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia.

23 Jul 2019

Mosquitoes change their hunting routines in response to host cues

Scientists have found that mosquitoes are changing their hunting routines in response to host cues. For example, in Africa, mosquitoes now recognize when people emerge from bednets in the morning and have begun hunting more often during the day than at night.

23 Jul 2019

Mosquito surveillance in Madagascar reveals new insight into malaria transmission

The Ministry of Public Health in Madagascar has reported thousands of malaria cases over the past months. In March, more than 600 cases of malaria were reported weekly and at least 2,000 cases have been reported in less than a month. As a result, efforts to curb the outbreak were initiated.

12 Jul 2019

Study shows how the mosquito immune system combats malaria parasites

A new study from Iowa State University entomologists describes how mosquitoes fight off parasites that cause malaria, a disease that sickens millions of people every year.

11 Jul 2019

Scientists identify malaria's Achilles' heel

Scientists have finally found malaria's Achilles' heel, a neurotoxin that isn't harmful to any living thing except Anopheles mosquitoes that spread malaria.

29 Jun 2019

Researchers discover new neurotoxin that selectively targets mosquitoes

Researchers at the universities in Stockholm and Lund, in collaboration with researchers from the University of California, have found a new toxin that selectively targets mosquitos.

28 Jun 2019

Nitrogen-rich diet reduces mosquitoes' ability to transmit Zika

Feed mosquitoes more nitrogen when they're young, and the adults are less likely to transmit the Zika virus, University of Florida scientists say. Now, researchers want to know why, and they're determined to discover how the findings can help further their research into the dangerous virus.

24 Jun 2019

Machine learning identifies bugs that spread Chagas disease

New research from the University of Kansas shows machine learning is capable of identifying insects that spread the incurable disease called Chagas with high precision, based on ordinary digital photos.

20 Jun 2019

Engineers crack the code to quickly diagnose anti-malarial drug resistance

One of the keys to quickly diagnosing anti-malarial drug resistance -- potentially saving lives -- lies in testing whole blood instead of extracting DNA, eliminating processing steps that can take hours or days.

13 Jun 2019

New assay uses a drop of blood to detect patients' resistance to antimalarial drugs

Antimalarial drugs appear to follow a typical pattern, with early effectiveness eventually limited by the emergence of drug resistance.

13 Jun 2019

New study suggests bacteria-loaded mosquitoes may halt spread of Dengue fever

Dengue fever stopped spreading in an Australian city, called Townsville, after an army of mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacterium was released on it.

11 Jun 2019

Scorpion venom contains compounds that could help fight Staph and tuberculosis bacteria

Researchers at Stanford University and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) have found that a scorpion found in Eastern Mexico has a venom that could have antibacterial properties.

10 Jun 2019

War against mosquitoes saves lives and money in Sri Lanka

A large-scale drive against mosquitoes in Sri Lanka reduced the incidence of dengue fever and saved a lot of money as well, according to a study led by the New York University of Global Public Health.

6 Jun 2019

FDA approves first vaccine for prevention of dengue disease in endemic regions

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today the approval of Dengvaxia, the first vaccine approved for the prevention of dengue disease caused by all dengue virus serotypes (1, 2, 3 and 4) in people ages 9 through 16 who have laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection and who live in endemic areas.

6 Jun 2019

Climate change adversely affects human health, says new report

Climate change may progressively affect human health for the worse, requiring prompt and resolute action to stabilize it, reports a consortium of 27 leading scientific academies in Europe.

4 Jun 2019