Malaria

Human Scent Is Even Sweeter For Malaria Mosquitoes

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:05:00 +0000

People smell yummy to mosquitoes.

So yummy, in fact, that our scent is a big way the pesky insects track us down.

But just how much mosquitoes like Eau de Human may not be entirely up to the bugs.

Mosquitoes are more attracted to human odors when they're infected with the malaria parasite, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

Entomologists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine gave malaria-transmitting mosquitoes two places to land: a clean, nylon stock

Using Bacteria To Swat Malaria Inside Mosquitoes

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:14:00 +0000

It's a bit like probiotics for mosquitoes.

When scientists infect mosquitoes with a specific bacterium, the insects become resistant to the malaria parasite.

Sounds like an easy way to stamp out malaria, right? Just introduce the infected mosquitoes into an area and let the bugs take over the natural population.

But there's been one big hitch: The bacterium — called Wolbachia — doesn't stick around inside mosquitoes that carry malaria.

A New Way To Make The Most Powerful Malaria Drug

Jason Beaubien — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:19:00 +0000

Researchers in California described Wednesday their new method for mass-producing the key ingredient for the herbal drug artemisinin, the most powerful antimalarial on the market.

Despite Rocky Economy, Money For Global Health Remains Solid

Michaeleen Doucleff — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:06:00 +0000

Given the world's economic troubles, you'd probably expect money to fight HIV and other illnesses around the world to have plummeted in the past few years.

But foreign aid for global health held steady in 2011 and 2012, hovering right around $28 billion a year, a report published Wednesday finds.

Just to put this number in perspective, that's about 3 percent of what the U.S.

Mosquito Maven Takes Bites For Malaria Research

Jason Beaubien — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 08:48:00 +0000

Most of us do everything possible to avoid mosquitoes. But one Italian researcher literally sacrifices her right arm to keep the lowly insects alive.

Chiara Adolina is studying a new malaria drug, and she needs the little suckers for her experiments. So she feeds them each day with her own blood.

She extends her arm into a mosquito cage to give the insects "breakfast." Several dozen mosquitoes spread across her forearm and jam their proboscises into her skin. "Can you see how fat they become?" she says.