Posted on 03/27/2025 5:03:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"One way to stop the spread of diseases transmitted by insects is to make the blood of animals and humans toxic," according to researchers.
Researchers have discovered that a medication typically prescribed for rare diseases could make human blood deadly for mosquitoes, offering a potential lead to curb diseases such as malaria.
They experimented with a drug called nitisinone, which is usually prescribed to individuals with rare inherited diseases that typically prevent them from being able to fully break down certain amino acids.
The medication works by blocking an enzyme to prevent the build-up of harmful disease byproducts in the human body.
Scientists in Argentina use nuclear energy to reduce disease-carrying mosquitoes When mosquitoes drink blood that contains nitisinone, the drug also blocks the enzyme in their bodies, stopping them from properly digesting the blood, leading them to quickly die, according to their findings published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
"One way to stop the spread of diseases transmitted by insects is to make the blood of animals and humans toxic to these blood-feeding insects," Lee R Haines, associate research professor at the University of Notre Dame in the US and co-lead author of the study, said in a statement.
"Our findings suggest that using nitisinone could be a promising new complementary tool for controlling insect-borne diseases like malaria".
Personal protective measures include wearing covering clothes, the use of mosquito repellent and the use of bed nets or window and door screens.
A growing need for mosquito control solutions
Another method is the use of ivermectin, used to kill parasites. However, its repeated use can lead to drug-resistance. It can also be toxic for the environment.
"Nitisinone performance was fantastic," said Álvaro Acosta Serrano, professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame and co-corresponding author of the study.
"It has a much longer half-life in human blood than ivermectin, which means its mosquitocidal activity remains circulating in the human body for much longer. This is critical when applied in the field for safety and economical reasons," he added.
Nitisinone was able to kill mosquitoes across all age groups, including older mosquitoes that are most likely to transmit malaria. It was also capable of eliminating insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.
"In the future, it could be advantageous to alternate both nitisinone and ivermectin for mosquito control," Haines said.
"For example, nitisinone could be employed in areas where ivermectin resistance persists or where ivermectin is already heavily used for livestock and humans".
Mosquito-borne diseases include malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, chikungunya and yellow fever, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
They represent an emerging threat to human health in Europe with climate change creating more favourable conditions for invasive mosquito species despite malaria being eradicated from the continent for several decades.
Sickle Cell Anemia was a condition that protected humans from malaria, but has terrible symptoms today. They have treatments, but they are $2.2M, plus care.
Tabasco Sauce. We’ve known for years.
Does cyanide work? Our peer reviewed studies show that it is safe on humans.
There was a time in my life, decades ago, I probably sent some mosquitoes to their maker by alcohol poisoning.
If they kill off the mosquitos, then the whole food chain suffers. This is not a good idea.
The world has gone mad.
I’d love to pay those skeeters back for giving me malaria.
I felt like I would have to get better to die.
I’m no fan of mosquitoes, but I’m with you on this one. Probably not a good idea to mess with nature like this
EVERYTHING bites the sh*t out of me.
I have found B complex pills refuse itchy mosquito bites. As an avid golfer I battled mosquitos often. B vitamin rich blood tastes bitter to mosquitos. They take one sip and fly away.
Reduce — not refuse.
Eat the flowers of the plantain plant as a mosquito repellent.
About a half dozen per day, it starts to work after a couple weeks.
They don’t taste bad.
Old Ojibwa Indian trick.
Oh, Yeah, I want stuff in my blood that poisons critters.... (I’m a critter too.)
Sounds like something Gates- Pfizer- ModeRNA would like to fill us up with.
I used to get eaten alive by mosquitoes. Now they don’t touch me. Bourbon is the best mosquito repellent out there.
Say I take this drug and am bitten by a malarial mosquito. Maybe the bug dies, but I still get malaria, right?
Seems to me this idea of ending malaria by killing off mosquitos only works if every human and every animal is vaccinated.
Haven't we been down this path before?
What could possibly go wrong? Turning our blood into insecticide….
DDT works fine against mosquitoes and other bugs. I used it for years in the 60s and I’m fine.
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