| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Let your blood poison the Mosquitoes that bite you! |
| 2008-01-20 |
| "Our goal is to turn the female mosquito's blood meal into the last meal she ever eats," said project leader Roger L. Miesfeld, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics in UA's College of Science and a member of BIO5 and the Arizona Cancer Center. [..] These researchers have discovered that one particular mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, has a surprisingly complex metabolic pathway, one that requires its members to excrete toxic nitrogen after gorging on human blood. If the mosquitoes fail to do so, they'll also fail to lay eggs--and will likely sicken and die. [..] Miesfeld and his colleagues are seeking a molecule that is harmless to humans, but will gum up the works of mosquito metabolism, forcing the mosquitoes to hang onto the nitrogen. Such a molecule would kill both the mosquitoes and their would-be progeny--thus slowing the spread of disease. Once found, this molecule--and similar molecules aimed at other mosquito species--could be developed into an insecticide and sprayed in places where mosquitoes congregate, such as around water and on mosquito netting. [..] The researchers also envision developing an oral insecticide--a mosquito-slaying pill 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. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #7 A couple points that always get overlooked when people start ranting about DDT: - we were over-applying it; sprinkling it around like holy water so much that critters like birds higher up the food chain were accumulating harmful concentrations. That was not a smart way to use it. - We didn't just spray chemicals to fight malaria and yellow fever. We also put up window screens, drained standing water and in general, made life harder for mosquitos. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-01-20 14:13 |
| #6 A year before Silent Spring came out, Daddy had a contract for producing a chemical he'd invented that greatly increased DDT's effectiveness as much lower levels. Apparently he made pots of money and enabled the killing of lots of malaria-bearing mosquitoes for that one year. He subsequently gave up in disgust, turning to finding a cure for cancer. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-20 11:21 |
#5 Aedes aegyptiHISS |
| Posted by: Fly Ash Liberation Army 2008-01-20 11:00 |
| #4 I grew up with DDT, and it is awesome other than the pungent odor it gives off. It was banned after Rachel Carson published her alarmist agit prop: "Silent Spring." Later she refused to explain the tens of millions of Africans and Asians who perished because they couldn't get DDT. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-01-20 06:26 |
| #3 It may work if all living creatures could be vaccinated. Or if some kind of trap could be laid that would trick the mosquito into biting the trap instead of a live animal. Or you could do like they did in Panama and oil all the stagnant water puddles. |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-01-20 03:40 |
| #2 THe best way to control malaria is to use DDT and develop a poison who causes death in any green who bites you. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-01-20 03:24 |
| #1 Why bother. DDT works just fine. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-01-20 03:04 |