Researchers from Harvard University have introduced a groundbreaking approach to fighting malaria—not by killing mosquitoes, but by treating them. The new method involves administering anti-malaria drugs to mosquitoes, preventing them from transmitting the disease.
Malaria, which claims around 600,000 lives annually—primarily children—is spread when female mosquitoes bite and consume infected blood. Until now, most efforts have focused on eliminating mosquitoes using insecticides. However, increasing insecticide resistance has made traditional approaches less effective.
A Revolutionary Approach
The Harvard team discovered that certain drugs, when absorbed through a mosquito’s legs, can eliminate malaria parasites. Their long-term goal is to coat mosquito nets with these medications, providing an alternative to insecticide-treated nets.
Dr. Alexandra Probst, one of the researchers, explained, “We’ve always tried to kill mosquitoes rather than directly targeting the parasites inside them. But this approach is no longer as effective.”
Promising Results
Scientists analyzed malaria DNA to identify weaknesses in the parasite and narrowed down a selection of 22 potential drugs. Two of these were tested on mosquitoes that had fed on malaria-infected blood, and both eliminated 100% of the parasites. The drugs were also applied to net-like material, proving effective even when mosquitoes survived contact with the nets—their parasites were killed, meaning they could no longer spread malaria.
According to researchers, the parasite is less likely to develop resistance to these treatments since each infected human carries billions of parasites, whereas a mosquito carries fewer than five.
Next Steps
The effectiveness of the medication-coated nets will soon be tested in Ethiopia to determine if the results hold up outside the laboratory. If successful, they could provide a cost-effective and long-term alternative to insecticides, with drug effects lasting up to a year.
While it will take at least six years for full-scale studies to confirm the approach’s success, researchers aim to create mosquito nets that combine both insecticides and anti-malaria drugs. This way, if one strategy fails, the other will still protect communities from malaria transmission.
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