Thursday, May 9, 2013

Bacterial infection in mosquitoes renders them immune to malaria parasites

Scientists that are funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have found an inheritable bacterial infection in malaria-transmitting that makes mosquitoes immune to malaria parasites. At first they injected mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a bacterium that is commonly found in insects that could already prevent malaria. But even through many testings they couldn't find a stable Wolbachia infection that passed consistently from mother to child. But then they were able to find a stable Wolbachia infection which was maintained for 34 generations of mosquitoes.In all three experiments, 100 percent of the mosquitoes were infected within eight generations with the Wolbachia.


NOS
-Importance of repeat ability: If the test isn't repeatable then the test results could of been just luck.

-Role of credibility: if this person wasn't credible they wouldn't have a post on it on phys.org


Lenny Haung

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 9, 2013 at 10:21 PM

    This discovery is very interesting. I'm glad that scientists are beginning to come up with a biological solution to the growing problem of malaria. I hope the tests continue to prove effective in Wolbachia transmission. I found another article about the study. http://www.nature.com/news/sickly-mosquitoes-stymie-malaria-s-spread-1.12962

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  2. AnonymousMay 9, 2013 at 10:24 PM

    If scientists are able to transmit this bacteria to mosquitoes, that would be amazing for the countries in Africa that are ravaged by malaria. So many people die from malaria; it's a terrible disease.

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