Mosquito News and Research

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Climate change not likely to make malaria situation worse in West Africa, say researchers

As public-health officials continue to fight malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, researchers are trying to predict how climate change will impact the disease, which infected an estimated 219 million people in 2010 and is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide among children under age 5.

16 Sep 2013

Researchers develop innovative system to test how virus interacts with cells in body

Researchers at The Mount Sinai Medical Center have developed an innovative system to test how a virus interacts with cells in the body — to see, for example, what happens in lung cells when a deadly respiratory virus attacks them.

12 Sep 2013

Study suggests new path to make protective malaria vaccine

This study suggests that genetically engineered malaria parasites that are stunted through precise gene deletions (genetically attenuated parasites, or "GAP") could be used as a vaccine that protects against malaria infection. This means that the harmless (attenuated) version of the parasite would interact with the body in the same way as the infective version, but without possibility of causing disease.

11 Sep 2013

Better ways to combat mosquitoes

In an advance toward providing mosquito-plagued people, pets and livestock with an invisibility cloak against these blood-sucking insects, scientists today described discovery of substances that occur naturally on human skin and block mosquitoes’ ability to smell and target their victims.

11 Sep 2013

Study: Mosquitoes able to smell major human host odorants better at night

In work published this week in Nature: Scientific Reports, a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Eck Institute for Global Health, led by Associate Professor Giles Duffield and Assistant Professor Zain Syed of the Department of Biological Sciences, revealed that the major malaria vector in Africa, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, is able to smell major human host odorants better at night.

31 Aug 2013

New method that targets mosquito larvae and pupae may help control malaria

A malaria control method that targets mosquito larvae and pupae as they mature in standing water could be an important supplementary measure in the fight against the disease, according to a new report.

29 Aug 2013

Study reveals role of cadherin receptor BT-R3 in killing action of Cry4B mosquito toxin

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), led by Dr. Lee Bulla, have demonstrated for the first time the selective cytotoxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis Cry4B toxin is mediated by BT-R3.

27 Aug 2013

Low-cost intervention reduces transmission of lymphatic filariasis to undetectable levels

An international team of scientists have demonstrated that a simple, low-cost intervention holds the potential to eradicate a debilitating tropical disease that threatens nearly 1.4 billion people in more than six dozen countries.

22 Aug 2013

A*STAR's SIgN discovers new strategy to develop universal dengue vaccine

A new strategy that cripples the ability of the dengue virus to escape the host immune system has been discovered by A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network. This breakthrough strategy opens a door of hope to what may become the world's first universal dengue vaccine candidate that can give full protection from all four serotypes of the dreadful virus.

14 Aug 2013

SIgN discovers strategy that cripples ability of dengue virus to escape host immune system

A new strategy that cripples the ability of the dengue virus to escape the host immune system has been discovered by A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN). This breakthrough strategy opens a door of hope to what may become the world's first universal dengue vaccine candidate that can give full protection from all four serotypes of the dreadful virus.

14 Aug 2013

New irrigation systems can increase malaria risk for a decade in arid regions

New irrigation systems in arid regions benefit farmers but can increase the local malaria risk for more than a decade -- which is longer than previously believed -- despite intensive and costly use of insecticides, new University of Michigan-led study in northwest India concludes.

13 Aug 2013

Investigational malaria vaccine offers protection against malaria infection in healthy adults

An investigational malaria vaccine has been found to be safe, to generate an immune system response, and to offer protection against malaria infection in healthy adults, according to the results of an early-stage clinical trial published Aug. 8 in the journal Science.

9 Aug 2013

New research may influence development of anti-viral therapies to fight against Dengue

New research into the fight against Dengue, an insect-borne tropical disease that infects up to 390 million people worldwide annually, may influence the development of anti-viral therapies that are effective against all four types of the virus.

3 Aug 2013

Prevention against EEE and West Nile virus is within everyone's control

Every year reported cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis and the West Nile virus surface in communities around the country, raising concerns and questions about mosquito borne-illnesses. Despite reports that children and the elderly are at greatest risk, anyone can be stricken by these viruses. But prevention is within everyone's control.

1 Aug 2013

Australian researchers raise concerns over London Underground Mosquito

Australia has plenty of ‘home grown’ mosquitoes but one introduced species is active all year round, according to a three year study by University of Sydney researchers.

24 Jul 2013

American Academy of Microbiology issues new report on West Nile Virus

Where does the virus come from? How is it spread? Can we predict when and where outbreaks will occur? What factors determine how sick a person will become if they are infected with West Nile virus?

19 Jul 2013

Engineered liver tissue developed at MIT could help scientists test new drugs, vaccines for malaria

Although malaria has been eradicated in many countries, including the United States, it still infects more than 200 million people worldwide, killing nearly a million every year. In regions where malaria is endemic, people rely on preventive measures such as mosquito netting and insecticides. Existing drugs can help, but the malaria parasite is becoming resistant to many of them.

18 Jul 2013

UC Riverside researchers develop easy-to-wear patch that makes humans invisible to mosquitoes

Technology that hampers mosquitoes' host-seeking behavior, identified at the University of California, Riverside in 2011, has led to the development of the world's first product that blocks mosquitoes' ability to efficiently detect carbon dioxide, their primary method of tracking human blood meals.

17 Jul 2013

International team explores genetic diversity of Plasmodium vivax in the Americas

Human migrations - from the prehistoric epoch to the present day - have extended cultures across the globe. With these travelers have come unwanted stowaways: mosquito-borne parasites belonging to the Plasmodium species - a group responsible for malaria, worldwide.

12 Jul 2013

Novel therapeutic approach prevents dengue virus replication by artificial microRNAs

Mosquito-borne dengue viruses cause an estimated 50 million cases of human dengue fever a year and are a significant public health threat worldwide. A novel therapeutic approach prevents dengue virus from reproducing in humans by targeting and silencing key regions of the dengue genome essential for viral replication.