News (Scientific)

The anopheline mosquitoes that carry malaria were present 100 million years ago, new research shows, potentially shedding fresh light on the history of a disease that continues to kill more than 400,000 people annually.

Scientists have developed a novel way with genome sequences to study and better understand transmission, treat and ultimately eradicate Plasmodium vivax, the most widespread form of malaria.

Researchers report that they have identified drugs that can reduce mosquito hunger for blood. Because movement of female mosquitoes from human to human -- male mosquitoes do not consume blood -- is the means by which mosquito-borne infections are passed along, researchers have theorized that reducing the frequency with which female mosquitoes feed is one way to lessen the spread of disease.

An international research has found that malaria parasite genomes are shaped by parasite-specific gene families, and that this genome organization strongly correlates with the parasite's virulence. The findings highlight the importance of spatial genome organization in gene regulation and the control of virulence in malaria parasites.

Disrupting two genes involved in the preservation of RNA molecules inhibits the ability of the male form of the malaria parasite to mature and be transmitted from human blood into mosquitoes, interrupting a key stage in the parasite's life-cycle and cutting off an important step in the spread of the disease.

In a context of overuse of insecticides, which leads to the selection of resistant mosquitoes, it is already known that this resistance to insecticides affects interactions between mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit. Researchers demonstrate that mechanisms of insecticide resistance, observed in Culex quinquefasciatus vector, impact the transmission of West Nile virus.

Wherever possible, researchers should not just focus on mosquito behavior when working to eliminate malaria, but must also consider how humans behave at night when the risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito is highest.

A type of mosquito that transmits malaria has been detected in Ethiopia for the first time, and the discovery has implications for putting more people at risk for malaria in new regions.

Proposals to fight malaria by 'driving' genes that slow its spread through mosquitoes is a high-risk, high-reward technology that presents a challenge to science journalists, according to a new report aimed at stimulating a fruitful, realistic public discussion of 'post-normal' science and technology.

Scientists have provided, for the first time, evidence which links the ability of red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite to bind to the cells lining the blood vessels of the brain, with the clinical syndrome cerebral malaria.

A vaccine against fatal pregnancy malaria shows promising results in the first tests in humans. The new study has taken a vaccine all the way from discovery of a mechanism through development and production to clinical trials in humans.

A newly discovered protein that is crucial for egg production in mosquitoes opens a possibility for 'mosquito birth control.' The approach might offer a way to reduce mosquito populations in areas of human disease transmission without harming beneficial insects such as honey bees.

Researchers have looked at the efficacy of using a novel artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), pyronaridine-artesunate, to treat malaria in areas where resistance to other ACTs is becoming a problem. The analysis finds it at least as effective as the currently used ACTs, if not better.

Insecticide-infused mosquito netting is in widespread use around the world to limit the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria. Researchers have now come up with a technique that measures how much insecticide is found on the surface of these nets -- paving the way for efforts to determine how long the nets are effective.

Researchers have developed novel ferrocene-based molecules that impair the malaria parasite's metabolic function leading to parasite death.

Currently, few antimalarial treatments exist that effectively kill liver-stage malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, which can lay dormant for months or even years. Researchers have reported a new drug that could eliminate liver-stage malaria parasites completely. Using an insect virus, known as a baculovirus, the researchers investigated the ability of baculovirus to mediate innate immunity against malaria infection. This work could pave the way for developing new and more effective antimalarial treatments.

They approach with the telltale sign -- a high-pitched whine. It's a warning that you are a mosquito's next meal. But that mosquito might carry a virus, and now the virus is in you. Now, with the help of state-of-the-art technology, researchers can see how a virus moves within a mosquito's body, which could lead to the prevention of mosquitoes transmitting diseases.

Researchers spent two years testing chemical compounds for their ability to inhibit the malaria parasite at an earlier stage in its lifecycle than most current drugs, revealing a new set of chemical starting points for the first drugs to prevent malaria instead of just treating the symptoms.

Researchers have generated six Zika virus antibodies that could be used to test for and possibly treat a mosquito-borne disease that has infected more than 1.5 million people worldwide.

Conversion from the asexual to the sexual phase of the malaria parasite is necessary for its transmission to the mosquito.