Treating mosquitoes from malaria could prevent infection in humans

Image from BBC News

A new way to fight it

So far, we've been fighting malaria by developing drugs to prevent infection of humans and by killing mosquitoes with insecticides. Particularly insecticides have been very effective, but in recent years all malaria causing parasites have become resistant to them. (1) Since 2010, 57 countries detected resistance to two or more classes of insecticides. (2)

However, Flaminia Catteruccia and her team from Harvard University have found that a certain drug, atovaquone (ATQ), given to travellers as prevention from malaria has worked on the mosquitoes themselves.

In their experiment, 100 mosquitoes were kept in a container with surfaces treated with ATQ for 6 minutes. They were then given malaria-infected blood. Dissection of mosquitoes showed no infection with malaria parasites. On the other hand, 80% of mosquitoes that weren't treated with ATQ were carrying these parasites. (1)

Possible risks and hurdles

The group of scientists were astonished by this result, and suggests coating mosquito nets with an antimalarial drug to prevent infection. However, ATQ isn't an ideal candidate, because although the risk of developing resistance to it is very low, it's always there. Moreover, ATQ is a key drug for treating malaria in humans, so a ATQ-resistant strain of malaria parasites could be seriously dangerous. (3)

The research is still ongoing

Considering that the team was originally planning on experimenting with sterilising female mosquitoes to stop spreading the malaria parasite (3), this unexpected turn in their research brought the team to a more promising path. And although ATQ is not the goal, the team will look more more suitable drugs to wipe out malaria this way. This story is one of the many that prove that there is no such thing as a failed experiment.

References:

1. Ye, Y. (2019). Malaria drugs for mosquitoes could help prevent the disease in humans. [online] New Scientist. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2195166-malaria-drugs-for-mosquitoes-could-help-prevent-the-disease-in-humans/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2019].

2. World Health Organization. (2019). Q&A on the Global plan for insecticide resistance management in malaria vectors. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/malaria/media/insecticide_resistance_management_qa/en/ [Accessed 28 Feb. 2019].

3. France 24. (2019). Study finds potential new weapon in fight against malaria. [online] Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/20190227-study-finds-potential-new-weapon-fight-against-malaria [Accessed 28 Feb. 2019].