Category: Mosquito-Borne Diseases

This story originally appeared on NJ Spotlight — New Jersey officials are bracing for the start of this year’s mosquito season amid growing signs that a warming climate is creating more favorable conditions for the survival of species that carry Zika and other dangerous viruses. Rising temperatures are making it more likely ...

The fight against malaria may someday include ridding mosquitoes themselves of the parasites that cause the disease. In the lab, treating female mosquitoes with an antimalarial drug stopped parasites from developing inside the insects. Mosquitoes were exposed to the treatment when they landed on a drug-coated glass surface for as ...

Insecticides that kill mosquitoes have helped to fight malaria, but insecticide resistance is rising. Treating mosquitoes with drugs that target the disease-causing parasite offers another way of tackling malaria. Janet Hemingway Janet Hemingway is at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK. Contact Search for this author in: Any long-term programme ...

University of Pittsburgh researchers have found that previous exposure to Dengue Fever lowers the risk of infection from the Zika virus, which may have implications for maternal health. The study was conducted with nearly 1,500 research volunteers residing in Salvador, Brazil, an "epicenter" of the 2015 Zika outbreak. Researchers found ...

What's the deadliest animal in the world? The mosquito — a tiny, fraction-of-an-ounce pest that's responsible for several million deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. But now, scientists say they may have found a way to curb the appetite of these blood-sucking bugs — by using human appetite ...

Since the introduction of Zika virus to the Americas in 2015 research has been key to understanding Zika transmission and infection and establishing clinical guidance. Now a new study by investigators at the Florida Department of Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is adding ...

  Zika dynamics in South America The infection dynamics of Zika virus (ZIKV) are difficult to characterize. Many ZIKV infections are asymptomatic, and the clinical presentation of ZIKV is nonspecific. Rodriguez-Barraquer et al. took advantage of a long-term health study under way in Salvador, Brazil, the epicenter of the recent outbreak ...

  Splat! A lucky strike and the telltale red splodge that your nightly tormentor has sucked its last blood vessel. Staring at the mess on the wall, you might find it hard to believe that so small an insect can carry so much blood. But female mosquitoes have a knack ...