Pointed out that malaria infections could be weakened by removing flowers that mosquitoes like
In areas suffering from mosquito-borne infectious diseases, while focusing on ways to cure the disease, an approach to reduce the mosquitoes themselves is being taken. Researchers who noticed that mosquitoes feed mainly on flower nectar in addition to animal blood are investigating ways to reduce the number of flowers that mosquitoes like.
Identifying mosquito plant hosts from ingested nectar secondary metabolites | Scientific Reports
Research taps into sugary secrets of plant nectar to bite back against mosquito-spread disease
Phil Stevenson and his colleagues at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, have presented a new plant-host identification method that could reduce malaria and other infectious diseases by identifying and restricting mosquito-preferred plants.
Studies have shown that removing a mosquito-preferred plant can reduce disease-carrying mosquito populations by 69.4%, and in deserts where sugar sources are scarce, spraying sugar baits can be used to target mosquito populations.
Thus, because mosquitoes require sugars from plants as well as animal blood, reducing vegetation can be an effective way to reduce mosquito populations.
To enhance this approach, Stevenson and his colleagues are investigating plant host identification, which uses plant knowledge to pinpoint exactly which plants mosquitoes prefer and where they are distributed, leading to more effective removal of only those specific plants.
Stevenson and his team analyzed the chemical properties of the nectar of three plants known to be attractive to mosquitoes -- lantana, castor and yellow oleander -- and identified food metabolites in the bodies of specific mosquitoes, confirming that each type of nectar contains unique secondary metabolites.
This technique of 'detecting secondary metabolites' will make it easier to determine which flowers' nectar mosquitoes are eating, something that was previously difficult to determine.
'In this study, we have developed a way to identify plants whose flowers are attractive to mosquitoes,' said Stevenson. 'By removing these plants from people's homes, we can reduce mosquito populations and the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases.'
Malaria kills 600,000 people a year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, so new approaches are needed to reduce mosquito populations, and it's hoped that altering the vegetation in mosquito habitats may be the key to success.
'We believe this work can be used to understand the transmission dynamics of not only malaria but also other important mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, Zika virus and West Nile virus,' added Stevenson.
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