Treat infected mosquitos say experts

IN THE fight against malaria, global health workers have long relied on bed nets treated with insecticide to ward off disease-transmitting mosquitos.

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But with insecticide resistance rising, a new study suggests an alternative approach: Use drugs to cure the insects before they can infect anyone.

Malaria spreads when a mosquito infected with a parasite bites a human.

“The real killer is the parasite that is transmitted by those mosquitos,” said Flaminia Catteruccia, a professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of the research. “So by eliminating the parasite, we eliminate the source of malaria.”

The scientists, whose work was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature this week, identified roughly two dozen drugs they said can kill parasites within infected mosquitos. The treatments would be administered when the insects land on bed nets treated with the compounds.