Malaria parasites, which kill nearly 600,000 people a year, mostly children, are spread by female mosquitoes when they drink blood. Scientists have discovered in the fight against malaria. By analysing the parasites’ DNA, they have identified two drugs that can kill 100% of malaria parasites within mosquitoes. Mosquitoes could potentially be given malaria drugs to clear their infection so that they no longer spread the disease. According to BBC reports, a team at Harvard University has discovered a pair of drugs that can successfully rid insects of malaria. These drugs can be used to treat bed nets, providing a potential game-changer in malaria prevention.
New drug-treated nets aim to break malaria transmission cycle
Researchers believe the introduction of these drugs is promising because the parasite is less likely to develop resistance. The drug has shown long-lasting effects, remaining effective on bed nets for up to a year. As the laboratory results are promising, further studies are planned in Ethiopia to test the effectiveness in real-world settings. Even when a mosquito comes in contact with the net, the parasites inside it are killed, breaking the transmission cycle. The ultimate goal of the discovery of drugs is to develop bed nets treated with both anti-malarial drugs and insecticides, providing a dual-layered defence against malaria. Current efforts aim to kill mosquitoes with insecticides rather than curing them of malaria.
Researchers’ views on the discovery of drugs
Dr Alexandra Probst, a researcher from Harvard, said, “We haven’t really tried to directly kill parasites in the mosquito before this, because we were just killing the mosquito”. She further said that approach is “no longer cutting it.”Researchers studied malaria’s DNA to identify vulnerabilities in the parasite while it’s in mosquitoes. They screened a vast library of potential drugs, narrowing it down to 22 candidates, which were then tested by feeding infected blood to female mosquitoes. According to the study, two drugs showed remarkable effectiveness, killing 100% of the parasites, and were successfully tested on materials similar to bed nets. “Even if that mosquito survives contact with the bed net, the parasites within are killed, and so it’s still not transmitting malaria,” said Dr Probst. “I think this is a really exciting approach, because it’s a new way of targeting mosquitoes themselves.”Also read | How a single blood sample could predict your lifespan, study finds
