From MedicalXpress
March 21, 2022
Scientists at the University of Glasgow and partner institutes have developed an inexpensive, fast and simple way to identify the aging mosquitos which transmit the deadly malaria parasite.
The study—published today in Nature Communications and led by the University of Glasgow-Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine (IBAHCM) and School of Chemistry, and the Ifakara Health Instititute (IHI) in Tanzania and the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Burkina Faso—presents a step change in our ability to accurately identify the age and species of malaria mosquitoes in wild populations, where it is critically important to be able to monitor their age, as only old mosquitoes can transmit the disease.
In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide, according to the WHO, killing around 627,000 people; and while there are vector controls in place to reduce the numbers of mosquitos that transmit the disease in certain parts of the world—such as insecticides or bed nets—the effectiveness of these interventions can be hard to measure.