[ad_1]
The BBC has announced that, according to researchers at Rockefeller University in New York (USA), feeding mosquitoes with human diet drugs could deter them from biting and could be used to prevent diseases such as Zika and malaria.
Experiments were conducted on Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to which a saline solution containing diet drugs was administered. It was then found that the appetite of mosquitoes was reduced. The researchers measured this by hanging in front of them a piece of body odor-laden nylon stockings belonging to the author of the study, Laura Duvall, a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University.
The team then tested all neuropeptide mosquito receptors with dietary drugs to determine which was responsible for controlling and extinguishing mosquito appetite. Researchers plan to use this information to find out where the receptor is produced in the body of the insect and how it is activated to control feeding behavior.
"We are starting to run out of ideas on how to treat insects that spread disease, and this is a totally new way of thinking about insect control," said lead author Leslie Vosshall, head of the neurogenetics laboratory. and behavior of Rockefeller. University. "Insecticides fail because of resistance, we have not found a way to make better repellents, and we do not have enough effective vaccines to fight most mosquito-borne diseases." . "
Source link
