Mosquito News and Research

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Combination of strategies reduces more than half the number of tiger mosquitos

The combination of three complementary measures to eradicate tiger mosquitos - avoid having stagnant water, using insecticides to eliminate larvae and adults, and removing rubbish - reduces more than half the number of tiger mosquitos, according to a research coordinated by researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

22 Jul 2011

Disrupting protein components kills mosquitoes

Mosquitoes die soon after a blood meal if certain protein components are experimentally disrupted, a team of biochemists at the University of Arizona has discovered.

18 Jul 2011

Facts and myths about bed bugs

Bed bugs are back. Since 2000, bed bug infestations have risen 81 percent, according to The National Pest Management Association. This resurgence has consumers nationwide on high alert, seeking information on the pests and how they can protect themselves.

18 Jul 2011

State roundup: Recurring SustiNet rumors in Conn.

The tentative concession deal negotiated between Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration and state employee unions is dead. But suspicions it was linked the SustiNet plan to create state-run insurance live on, complicating chances of striking a new deal to avert up to 6,500 layoffs. ... One simple, incontrovertible fact is that there is no SustiNet coverage plan into which state employees can be enticed or forced. But from there, the picture gets fuzzy.

11 Jul 2011

Mass administration of common anti-parasitic is possible new tool in fight against malaria

Ivermectin - an inexpensive, common medication already being used in Africa to treat roundworms that cause river blindness and parasites that cause elephantitis - could also be used to kill mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites, potentially "provid[ing] another useful weapon in the armory against a disease that kills around 800,000 a year, most of them small children and pregnant women," the Guardian's "Global Health Blog" reports (Boseley, 7/6).

8 Jul 2011

Heartworm medication Ivermectin prevents malaria transmission in Africa

A cheap, common heartworm medication that is already being used to fight other parasites in Africa could also dramatically interrupt transmission of malaria, potentially providing an inexpensive tool to fight a disease that kills almost 800,000 people each year, according to a new study published in the July edition of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

7 Jul 2011

British company designing genetically modified mosquito to fight dengue

NPR's All Things Considered on Tuesday examined the efforts of the British company Oxitec to develop a genetically modified mosquito meant to wipe out wild populations of the insects, which carry potentially lethal diseases such as dengue.

7 Jul 2011

Aquatain surface layer helps control malaria mosquitoes in rice-agro ecosystems

A thin, liquid layer applied on the surface of inundated rice paddies effectively kills malaria mosquito larvae without having an impact on other aquatic life. Rice yield remains the same and water was saved because of the anti-evaporative properties of the layer.

2 Jul 2011

France 24's Health program examines challenges to fighting malaria in Madagascar

France 24's video program Health examines challenges to fighting malaria in Madagascar, where some people who cannot afford newer artemisinin-based combination therapies use older, less-effective medications that can promote drug resistance and others misuse mosquito nets.

29 Jun 2011

Monash researchers receive MMV Project of the Year award for new anti-malarial drug candidate

Monash University is collaborating on the development of a potential new drug to cure malaria throughout the world.

23 Jun 2011

WHO special issue addresses economic burden of dengue in the Americas, Africa and Asia

The ten studies in this special issue document the substantial and growing burden of dengue in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and the burden of a chikungunya outbreak in India.

18 Jun 2011

Dengue virus circulating between monkeys, mosquitoes could emerge to cause human outbreaks

More than a thousand years ago, somewhere in Southeast Asia, a fateful meeting occurred between a mosquito-borne virus that infected mainly monkeys and a large, susceptible group of humans.

14 Jun 2011

Dengue vaccine could be available in four years

A vaccine against the mosquito-borne infection dengue, the first to reach the final stage of clinical testing, "has seen 'very promising' results in Thailand, a specialist involved in the tests said on Friday," Reuters reports.

14 Jun 2011

NIH awards $1.9M grant to Scripps Research scientist for malaria study

A scientist from The Scripps Research Institute has won a four-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to better understand the parasite that causes malaria, laying the groundwork to develop better drugs to combat the widespread and deadly disease.

10 Jun 2011

Lethal malaria parasite has biochemical weakness

Every year, 10,000 pregnant women and up to 200,000 newborn babies are killed by the malaria parasite. Doctors all around the globe have for years been looking in vain for a medical protection, and now researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found the biochemically weakness of the lethal malaria parasite, and will now start developing a vaccine to combat pregnancy related malaria.

8 Jun 2011

MMV honors UT Southwestern with Project of the Year for new anti-malarial drug discovery

The discovery of a potential new anti-malarial drug by a UT Southwestern Medical Center-led research team has been awarded Project of the Year by Medicines for Malaria Venture.

7 Jun 2011

Pennsylvania reports first detection of West Nile encephalitis in Greene County

Pennsylvania has reported its earliest detection of a West Nile virus-carrying mosquito since testing began in 2000, the Department of Environmental Protection said today. The first detection of 2011 was a mosquito collection in Morgan Township, Greene County, on May 17.

7 Jun 2011

PING, HP partner to reduce malaria through mobile health monitoring technology

On the heels of the United Nations Social Innovation Summit, HP and nonprofit organization Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING) are launching a collaboration to improve the quality and efficiency of disease surveillance in Botswana through mobile health monitoring technology that can enhance protection and prevention against major malaria outbreaks.

6 Jun 2011

Ross River Fever vaccine trials begin

Australian researchers are working on a new vaccine that could protect against mosquito-borne Ross River Fever. They are conducting the world-first trial of the vaccine with positive results reported so far.

5 Jun 2011

Climate change can harm indigenous peoples' health

The Canadian Arctic. The Amazonian jungle. The fringes of an African rainforest. These lands are home to some of the most isolated and vulnerable people in the world - the indigenous populations of Canada, Peru and Uganda. Because of their dependence on the land for food and water, indigenous peoples' health is particularly affected by climatic changes. Indeed, they are already seeing dramatic effects due to changing temperatures.

3 Jun 2011