A study led by a team of researchers from Virginia Tech and Harvard TH School of Public Health says that several strokes of blood feeding with mosquitoes shortens the stimulation period for malaria parasites and increases cross-linking capacity. sent malaria.
Published in the open access journal PLOS Pathogens by Lauren Childs of Virginia Tech, Flaminia Catteruccia of Harvard School of Public Health TH Chan, and colleagues, show that mosquitoes eat blood multiple times in natural conditions, the results suggesting that eradication of malaria may be significantly more challenging than suggested by previous trials, which usually involve a single blood meal.
Under natural conditions, the female mosquito Anopheles gambiae, the main vector of malaria, feeds on blood many times in its life. Such complex behavior is routinely monitored when mosquitoes are in experiments with malaria parasites, limiting our ability to accurately account for potential transmitted effects.
In the new study, the researchers examine how supplemental blood nutrition affects the developmental ability and transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites in women ‘The Gambiae’.
“We wanted to capture, in endemic regions, that malaria-spreading mosquitoes feed on blood every 2-3 days,” said W. Robert Shaw, lead author of the study seo.
The results show that additional blood feeding three days after infection with P. falciparum accelerates the growth of the malaria parasite, thus shortening the incubation period required before implantation. to people.
Incorporating this data into a mathematical model across sub-Saharan Africa reveals that malaria transmission capacity is higher than previously thought, making disease eradication more difficult. . In addition, parasite growth is accelerated in genetically modified mosquitoes with reduced reproductive capacity, suggesting that control strategies could use this approach, with the aim of inhibit Anopheles populations, favoring the unforeseen spread of malaria.
The data also suggest that parasites can be transmitted by younger mosquitoes, which are less likely to kill insects, with a negative impact on the success of insect-based strategies. Taken together, the results indicate that younger mosquitoes and those with less reproductive capacity may make a greater contribution to disease than previously thought.
According to the authors, the findings have important implications for properly understanding malaria transmission potential and estimating the true impact of current and future mosquito control measures.
(This story was published from a wire group group without altering the text.)
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