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Malaria 'completely stopped' by microbe, Hacker News

Malaria 'completely stopped' by microbe, Hacker News
        

                                 Mosquito Image copyright                   Getty Images                                                        
Image caption                                      Malaria is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes                              

Scientists have discovered a microbe that completely protects mosquitoes from being infected with malaria.

The team in Kenya and the UK say the finding has “enormous potential” to control the disease.

Malaria is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes, so protecting them could in turn protect people.

The researchers are now investigating whether they can release infected mosquitoes into the wild, or use spores to suppress the disease.

What is this microbe?

The malaria-blocking bug, Microsporidia MB, was discovered by studying mosquitoes on the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya. It lives in the gut and genitals of the insects.

The researchers could not find a single mosquito carrying the Microsporidia that was harboring the malaria parasite. And lab experiments, published in Nature Communications , confirmed the microbe gave the mosquitoes protection.

Microsporidias are fungi, or at least closely related to them, and most are parasites.

However, this new species may be beneficial to the mosquito and was naturally found in around 5% of the insects studied.

How big a discovery is it?

“The data we have so far suggest it is % blockage, it’s a very severe blockage of malaria, “Dr Jeremy Herren, from the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya told the BBC.

He added: “It will come as a quite a surprise. I think people will find that a real big breakthrough.”

More than , (0 people are killed by malaria each year, most of them children under the age of five.

While huge progress has been made through the use of bed nets and spraying homes with insecticide, this has stalled in recent years. It is widely agreed new tools are needed to tackle malaria.

                                                                                                       Image copyright                   Getty Images                                                        
Image caption                                      Bed nets have helped cut the number of people infected with malaria around the world                              

How does the microbe stop malaria?

The fine details still need to be worked out.

But Microsporidia MB could be priming the mosquito’s immune system, so it is more able to fight off infections.

Or the presence of the microbe in the insect could be having a profound effect on the mosquito’s metabolism, making it inhospitable for the malaria parasite.

Microsporidia MB infections appear to be life-long. If anything, the experiments show they become more intense, so the malaria-blocking effect would be long-lasting.

When can this be used against malaria?

At the very least, % of mosquitoes in a region need to be infected with microsporidia in order to make a significant dent in malaria.

The microbe can be passed between adult mosquitoes and is also passed from the female to her offspring.

So, the researchers are investigating two main strategies for increasing the number of infected mosquitoes.

Microsporidia form spores which could be released en masse to infect mosquitoes

What do you think?

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