New antibody insecticide targets malaria mosquito
Malaria is a cruel and disabling disease that targets victims of all ages. Even now, it is estimated to kill one child every minute. Recent progress in halting the spread of the disease has hinged on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets and spraying programmes that target the insect that spreads the disease, the African malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae). However, the insects are fighting back, developing resistance to insecticides such as pyrethroid that control their numbers, forcing Brian Foy and Jacob Meyers from Colorado State University to think of alternative control strategies. Wondering if they could defeat the mosquitoes by developing a new insecticide, the duo decided to try to make blood meals toxic for mosquitoes. They decided to test whether antibodies targeted at a key component of the malaria mosquito's nervous system could be fed to the insects in a blood meal to kill them.