Researchers put the bite on mosquitoes(that members of a community with a high ...)

Date:1/16/2008

that members of a community with a high instance of, say, yellow fever or malaria might take to reduce the mosquito population. The pill wouldn't be a vaccine; if people who took it were later bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito, they would still become infected. However, the mosquito would ingest the insecticide along with the blood, causing her to bear fewer young and possibly die before she could bite anyone else.

"The whole community would essentially become one big mosquito trap," Miesfeld said. Over time, mosquito populations and disease rates would both decline. "It would be a group effort that in the long run could have a huge impact."

In a world where both mosquitoes and the diseases they carry are becoming increasingly resistant to known insecticides and medicines, finding new ways to fight them is crucial.

"This would be one more weapon in our arsenal against diseases that kill millions of people a year," Miesfeld said.

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Contact: Deborah Daun ddaun@email.arizona.edu 520-626-2059 University of Arizona Source:Eurekalert

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