Mosquitoes Can Learn To Avoid Pesticide After A Single Exposure.

 

Mosquitoes Can Learn To Avoid Pesticide After A Single Exposure.Mosquitoes can learn to avoid pesticide after a single non-lethal pesticide exposure, according to a study published Thursday in Nature, highlighting an overlooked challenge in fighting the spread of diseases and parasites like malaria, which has grown more widespread and severe due to Covid-19 healthcare disruptions.

 Researchers studied two mosquito species that are common in tropical and subtropical areas around the world: Culex quinquefasciastus—which spreads avian malaria, Zika virus and West Nile virus—and Aedes aegypti—which spreads dengue fever and yellow fever. 

 Mosquitoes learned to associate the smell of pesticide with the negative effects of pesticide contact, and were willing to forgo blood-feeding to avoid landing in an area that smelled of pesticide, researchers said. 

 Mosquitoes have grown more resistant to pesticide in recent years, and researchers identified mosquito cognition as an overlooked factor in this change. However, new pesticide solutions could be developed with a delayed reaction, so that a mosquito that survives exposure will not learn to associate the smell of the pesticide with the negative experience, Frederic Tripet, director of the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele University in the U.K., told ABC

WHO estimates malaria deaths could double because of interruptions caused by COVID-19.

WHO estimates malaria deaths could double because of interruptions caused by COVID-19.Interruptions to access to antimalarial medicines and disruptions to insecticide-treated net campaigns, or ITNs, because of COVID-19 could potentially double the number of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 when compared with 2018, according to a WHO modeling analysis. “This new modeling analysis reinforces WHO’s call for maintaining essential, life-saving services to prevent, detect and treat malaria during the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries have a critical window of opportunity now to ensure malaria services are maintained even as the virus spreads,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said in a press release.

RESEARCH:Group trains pupils in malaria prevention

RESEARCH:Group trains pupils in malaria prevention. A humanitarian organisation, Mace Club of Nigeria, has trained some secondary school pupils in Ogun State on ways to prevent Malaria, as part of its effort to eradicate deadly diseases in the state. The training, held at the Abeokuta Grammar School, Idi-Aba, had in attendance pupils from the six schools that qualified for the grand finale of the organisation’s debate and quiz competition.

RESEARCH :Mosquito known to transmit malaria has been detected in Ethiopia for the first time.

RESEARCH :Mosquito known to transmit malaria has been detected in Ethiopia for the first time.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. The mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, normally is found in the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and China. Previous research shows that more than 68 percent of Ethiopia's population is at risk for malaria, with an average of 2.5 million cases reported annually, according to the World Malaria Report of 2017.

New type of bed net could help fight against malaria.

New type of bed net could help fight against malaria.A new type of bed net could prevent millions of cases of malaria, according to new research published in The Lancet.The two-year clinical trial in Burkina Faso, West Africa involving 2,000 children showed that the number of cases of clinical malaria was reduced by 12 per cent with the new type of mosquito net compared to the conventional one used normally. The study resulted from a collaboration of scientists from Durham University (UK), Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (Burkina Faso), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (UK) and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Switzerland). It found that: The number of cases of clinical malaria reduced by 12 per cent with the new type of mosquito net compared to conventional nets. Children sleeping under the new bed nets were 52 per cent less likely to be moderately anemic than those with a conventional net. Malaria anemia is a major cause of mortality in children under two years old. In areas with the new combination bed nets, there was a 51 per cent reduction in risk of a malaria-infective mosquito bite compared to areas with conventional nets.

$2.7bn invested in malaria control globally.

According to WHO, $2.7bn invested in malaria control globally. World Health Organisation, WHO yesterday said despite an estimated US$ 2.7 billion invested in malaria control and elimination efforts globally in 2016 the world were still well below the target of $6.5 billion annual investment required to meet the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy. According to the World Malaria Report 2017, there were an estimated 5 million more malaria cases in 2016 than in 2015 and malaria deaths stood at around 445 000, a similar number to the previous year.The study revealed that Borno State in Nigeria benefited from WHO mass anti-malarial drug administration campaign this year that reached an estimated 1.2 million children below the age of five years.

Pigs Against Malaria.

                                Pigs Against Malaria.

Mosquito vector-borne diseases are serious global health threats. Malaria alone claims the lives of about 600,000 people annually. With such high death tolls, controlling vectors and the pathogens that they carry is of critical importance.

 Ivermectin is a broad spectrum antiparasitic medication that can be used both internally and topically for the treatment of myriad parasites, including filarial worms, gastrointestinal parasites, and scabies. And, as it turns out, ivermectin can even kill mosquitoes.

 Scientists have shown that having humans in an entire village take ivermectin can disrupt transmission of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Patients with drug-resistant malaria cured by plant therapy.

Patients with drug-resistant malaria cured by plant therapy.Tablets made from dried leaves of the Artemisia annua plant cured 18 critically ill patients in a Congo clinic. The results suggest a new and inexpensive treatment option for the mosquito-borne disease that affects 212 million people worldwide. #malaria The 18 patients, ranging in age from 14 months to 60 years, did not respond to the standard ACT treatment, and all lapsed into severe malaria, defined by symptoms that can include loss of consciousness, respiratory distress, convulsions, and pulmonary edema. One patient, a five-year-old child, became comatose. All were then treated with intravenously administered artesunate, the frontline medication for severe malaria, but again they showed no improvement. #malaria When the standard malaria medications failed to help 18 critically ill patients, the attending physician in a Congo clinic acted under the 'compassionate use' doctrine and prescribed a not-yet-approved malaria therapy made only from the dried leaves of the Artemisia annua plant. In just five days, all 18 people fully recovered. Artemesia annua is also known as sweet wormwood is an alternative to conventional antimalarial drugs. #malaria

Blood transfusions in high risk malaria zones could be made safer with new blood treatment technology.

Blood transfusions in high risk malaria zones could be made safer with new blood treatment technology.Patients, especially children, who undergo blood transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria. A new trial suggests that treating donated blood with a new technology that combines UV radiation and vitamin B is safe and could minimize the risk of malaria infection following blood transfusions. In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic, a high proportion of the population carry the parasite but do not show any clinical symptoms. This is a serious concern when it comes to donated blood transfusions as it puts the recipients at high risk of infection if no blood treatment procedure is provided.

Dogs may be able to smell malaria in humans and help with quicker detection.

Scientists hope using dogs could revolutionise how malaria is detected, enabling doctors to identify it quickly and without invasive tests Dogs may be able to sniff out malaria through their acute sense of smell, thereby saving thousands of lives through quick and non-invasive detection, scientists have claimed. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a grant to commission research into the possibility to scientists at Durham University, Medical Detection Dogs and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, along with counterparts in Gambia. It is hoped the animals may be able to detect odors associated with the condition and which are too subtle to be identified by human smell. Previous research has suggested dogs can be highly accurate in detection cancer in humans. Steve Lindsay, expert in the development of malaria-control measures in the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University and principle investigator in the project, said: “Recent research has demonstrated that patients infected with the malaria parasite produce specific odors in their breath that disappear after treatment of the parasite. We also know that malaria mosquitoes prefer to feed on malaria patients, which they almost certainly identify by their odor. “If dogs can be used to identify malaria-infected individuals, they could be used at ports of entry for screening travelers entering areas that are malaria free, but susceptible to re-invasion. Using dogs for detection of parasites has the advantage that it is non-invasive, portable, does not require a laboratory, is fully functional in field settings and can be used to test a high quantity of samples. By using the dogs, we can quickly find and treat those with malaria and thereby hugely accelerating the speed at which we can wipe out this terrible disease altogether.” Dr Claire Guest, CEO of Medical Detection Dogs which trains animals for medical purposes, said: “Dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell. They can detect parts per trillion; that is equivalent to one spoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. In training trials, they have proven themselves to be 93 per cent reliable at detecting cancer. I feel confident they will learn to detect the odor of malaria.” In August of last year, the use of medical detection dogs for sniffing out cancer was approved for use in an NHS trial following evidence the animals are highly reliable at detecting the disease in humans. In 2015, there were an estimated 214 million malaria cases globally and an estimated 438,000 deaths caused by the disease. culled from the independent.co.uk

MONKEY MALARIA.

New research shows that Plasmodium knowlesi, a form of malaria common in monkeys in South East Asia, is capable of flourishing in people. The monkey malaria is just a few steps away from becoming a major human disease. Manoj Duraisingh, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the Chan School of Public Health at Harvard. Duraisingh is one of the authors of a new paper on P. knowlesi malaria published in Nature Communications. The team are really trying to understand whether what is normally thought to be a zoonotic disease( transmitted from animals to humans ) or is actually becoming something that is now transmitted between humans.There is growing concern that this simian parasite is adapting to infect humans more efficiently as stated in this new paper. In the last decade human cases of knowlesi malaria have been on the rise in parts of Southeast Asia. The So-called "monkey malaria" has become the most common form of malaria now detected in hospitals and clinics in Malaysian Borneo. Patients with knowlesi malaria suffer from intense bouts of fever and the symptoms are so similar to regular garden-variety malaria that it's often misdiagnosed as one of the five other human strains. The Plasmodium knowlesi parasites reside in forest-dwelling macaques as the parasites are well-adapted to the monkeys and the pests can reproduce easily in the macaques' blood. Mosquitoes that feed on the primates then spread the parasites to more and more monkeys. The knowlesi parasites and macaques were a closed system/end but as deforestation and the expansion of palm oil plantations in Malaysia that have cut into the monkeys' natural habitat, people and macaques have come in closer and more constant contact. This proximity has led to more people being bitten by mosquitoes laden with knowlesi parasites. "In many parts of Malaysia now it's the predominant malaria parasite that [doctors] actually see," Duraisingh says. The knowlesi parasite however generally doesn't reproduce as efficiently in human blood as in monkey blood because of a gene mutation — a complicated fork in the evolutionary tree — that happened 3 million years ago. Macaques got one gene. We got another. Our gene makes it much harder for knowlesi parasites to invade our red blood cells compared to those of macaques. This explains why most of the human cases of knowlesi malaria are fairly mild. Duraisingh says his team noticed a subset of malaria cases in Borneo that weren't mild at all,in these patients as the parasites multiply there are cyclical spikes of intense fever. Knowlesi malaria can be fatal but it does respond to standard malaria treatment if identified early. These intense cases of knowlesi malaria made Duraisingh and his colleagues think that there's something going on with the knowlesi parasite that might allow it to become more dangerous. In the lab Duraisingh found that the knowlesi parasite was able to find new ways to invade human red blood cells. They write: "It has been shown that P. knowlesi can expand its preferred host cell niche by invading older red blood cells and this is an important factor influencing adaptation of P. knowlesi to the human population."This new research shows that the knowlesi parasite is capable of adapting to life in a new host as demonstrated in the laboratory,that it can learn how to invade human blood cells quite quickly. The great concern is that as people, macaques and knowlesi-infected mosquitoes come into close contact, the parasite will increasingly adapt to the point where there's sustained transmission from human to human. When this happen, monkey malaria could become the next emerging infectious disease threat. Read more here;http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/08/473385975/monkey-malaria-creeps-closer-to-being-a-major-human-threat.

MOSQUITOES , PATHOGENS AND GLOBAL THREAT.

The world focuses on Zika's rapid advance in the Americas but experts warns the virus that originated in Africa is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes threatening humanity. The Aedes aegypti species blamed for transmitting Zika breeds in car tires, tin cans, dog bowls and cemetery flower vases. And its females are great at spreading disease as they take multiple bites to satisfy their hunger for the protein in human blood they need to develop their eggs. Around the world, disease-carrying mosquitoes are advancing at speed, taking viruses such as dengue and Zika, plus a host of lesser-known conditions such as chikungunya and St. Louis encephalitis, into new territories from Europe to the Pacific. In 2014, there was a large outbreak of chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pains, in the Caribbean, where it had not been seen before, while the same virus sickened Italians in 2007 .Europe has seen the re-emergence of malaria in Greece for the first time in decades and the appearance of West Nile fever in eastern parts of the continent. The speed of change in mosquito-borne diseases since the late 1990s has been unprecedented, for many experts the biggest potential threat is Aedes albopictus, otherwise known as the Asian tiger mosquito. This is expanding its range widely and is capable of spreading more than 25 viruses, including Zika. There is evidence that Aedes albopictus is now out-competing aegypti in some areas and becoming more dominant, in the United States, Aedes albopictus has been found as far north as Massachusetts and as far west as California. In Europe it has reached Paris and Strasbourg. The global movement of mosquitoes rests on the increase in human travel, humans are moving the pathogens around and the mosquitoes are waiting there to transmit them. Deforestation in Malaysia, for example, is blamed for a steep rise in human cases of a type of malaria usually found in monkeys. The elimination of mosquitoes,their breeding sites and avoiding mosquito bites in mosquito prone areas are some of the measures to keep the mosquito menace at bay. Read more here; http://veterinarymedicineechbeebolanle-ojuri.blogspot.com.ng/2016/01/the-zika-threat-and-global-village.html

SCIENTISTS CREATE INFERTILE FEMALE MOSQUITO TO WIPE OUT MALARIA.

UK scientists say they have reached a milestone in the fight against malaria by creating a genetically modified mosquito that is infertile.The plan is to wipe out the insects that spread malaria to people via bites, Nature Biotechnology reports. Two copies of the mutant gene render the malaria-carrying female insect completely barren. But one copy is enough for a mosquito mum or dad to pass it on to offspring. This should perpetually spread the infertility gene throughout the population so the species dwindles or dies out. However, the Imperial College London team say more safety tests are needed, meaning it will be a decade before the mutant mosquitoes can be released into the wild. Cheating nature; The mutant mosquito can still carry and transmit malaria to people via bites. But their genetic make-up means they should breed with and replace other malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Any offspring with one copy of the gene would carry on passing the trait to future generations, while any female offspring that inherits both copies would be unable to reproduce. In this way, the host of the malaria parasite should eventually become extinct. In the Imperial team's experiments with Anopheles gambiae - a breed of mosquito that is rife in sub-Saharan Africa where the bulk of human malaria deaths currently occur - the mutant mosquitoes were kept with wild-type ones so they could mate. The gene for infertility was transmitted to more than 90% of both male and female mosquitoes' offspring across five generations, thanks to technology called gene drive, say the researchers Dr Tony Nolan and Prof Andrea Crisanti. read more ;http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35024794

MALARIA PROTEIN USED FOR CANCER TREATMENT.

Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the malaria parasite because it produces a protein that binds readily to a sugar molecule in the placenta. This same sugar molecule is also found in most cancer cells; researchers have shown it is possible to attach anticancer drugs to the malaria protein and use it to deliver them precisely to tumors by targeting the sugar. While the fact that the same sugar molecule (a type of chondroitin sulfate) is found in both the placenta and most cancers is not surprising - since both have cells that grow fast - the evidence for this has only surfaced recently, as senior author Mads Daugaard, an assistant professor of urologic science at UBC, explains: Once the team discovered that the malaria parasite uses a protein it produces called VAR2CSA to embed itself in the placenta, they immediately saw the potential to use the process as a way to target cancer drugs to tumors. Read more;http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/300939.php