Jan
24
Novel Mosquitoes Killer
In the fight to prevent mosquito borne diseases from harming more and more people, scientists have been looking for different ways of battling the scourge that these insects may bring with them. From mosquito repellants, insecticide to bug zappers, scientists are looking for other new ways of trying to control the spread of mosquitoes to limit the spread of diseases such as yellow fever, malaria, dengue and the West Nile virus. A team of researchers from the University of Arizona may have found a new way to combat these pests- by taking a pill.
A team of researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson is in the process studying novel solutions in trying to decimate mosquito populations on the way to prevent the spread of different mosquito-borne diseases. And one of the solutions that the researchers are looking for might be in a form of a pill that people in mosquito heavy areas can take to poison the insects.
The researchers are looking into trying to interrupt a part of the mosquito’s digestive processes to prevent it from digesting human blood as food. It is not such a surprise that mosquitoes are known to be ravenous blood suckers. It is only the female mosquitoes who feed on human blood in order to produce the essential proteins needed to produce healthy young critters. Researchers have learned that in order to make use of the blood meal, mosquitoes have to get rid of the ammonia in the blood, a by-product brought about by the complex breakdown of blood. This may be produced along the way as mosquitoes try to digest and break down their meal blood.
By being able to find a way to block a digestive process that allows mosquitoes to get rid of ammonia, researchers may be able to develop a lethal means of bringing down mosquito populations someday by disturbing their reproduction cycle. A possible solution might be a pill that humans take containing the digestion-interrupting molecule that works on mosquitoes. The molecule will then find its way into the bloodstream that makes it a lethal blood meal for mosquitoes. Research on how this can be done is undergoing and may prove useful in the future in trying to develop newer applications for controlling the mosquitoes and their ability to spread diseases.
Another solution being looked at is breeding a strain of mosquitoes that contains inside them a pathogen lethal to ordinary mosquitoes. But this approach may pose its own set of problems that may have uncertain consequences, making it a very scary proposition. The fact that such an approach of releasing millions of mutant mosquitoes can be scary enough to imagine. But certain means to further control mosquito population are being done. Further research is needed in order to find better way of combating the threat that such insects bring to humans.