Research: Scientists Modify Mosquitoes That Can’t Spread Malaria

According to a research, scientists have found a way to genetically engineer mosquitoes with the capability to slow down the multiplication of malaria-causing parasites in their gut. This is an advance study, that can help in preventing the infecting of the disease in humans. The disease spreads in people because of a female mosquito when it bites someone infected with the malaria parasite. The parasite grows into the next stage in the mosquito’s gut and transports to its salivary glands, to infect the next human it bites. These modified mosquitoes produce compounds which interfere in the growth of malaria-causing parasites, which are then not able to reach the mosquitoes’ salivary glands and be passed on in a bite before the insects are dead. The team of researchers from the Institute for Disease Modeling at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have created a model which can analyse the effect of such changes if used in various African settings. They also found that the modification of these mosquitoes could be helpful even in locations where the transmission rate is high.

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