The elimination of malaria-carrying mosquitoes is not expected to affect ecosystems, according to a report

By combining studies of a malaria-carrying mosquito species, the researchers found that no other animal relied solely on them for food.

The study, conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, suggests that the mosquito can be reduced or even eliminated.

The local elimination of this species of mosquito could drastically reduce malaria cases, although the team notes that additional research is needed in the field to verify that the ecosystem is not harmful. is not significantly disturbed.

2016, there were about 216 million cases of malaria and about 445,000 deaths, most children under five. Many strategies are currently being proposed to eliminate malaria, and a promising solution is to use genetically modified mosquitoes to suppress local populations of mosquitoes.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of malaria cases occur, only a handful of mosquito species carry malaria among the hundreds present. An international team of researchers led by Imperial Oil, called Target Malaria, targets one of these species, Anopheles gambiae with a view to eventual removal from the aid genetic engineering

. need to predict the impact of local suppression An. gambiae. Now, in a report published today in Medical and Veterinary Entomology the team has reviewed previous studies on this mosquito species to see how it fits into the world. # 39; ecosystem.

They found that some animals eat. gambiae, but those who eat it also eat other species of mosquitoes and other insects, which means they do not need it . gambiae to survive.

The lead author, Dr. Tilly Collins, of the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial, said: "Adults An. Gambiae are small, hard to catch, the most mobile. At night, they are not very juicy, so they are not a rewarding prey for insect and vertebrate predators: many eat them – sometimes accidentally – but there is no evidence that they are safe. they are an important or essential part of the diet of any other

"There is a curious jumping spider known as the" vampire spider "who lives in the houses around the shores of Lake Victoria and who has a fondness for female mosquitoes fed with blood.The females fed resting blood are easy prey and more nutritious when they digest their blood meal, but this spider easily eats other species of mosquitoes available when the opportunity arises. "

The team also examined mosquito larval habitats lay their eggs in small temporary ponds and puddles of water away predators when i They are laid in larger ponds, predators that feed on them also eat a lot of other things preferentially.

If a species is removed from an ecosystem, it may mean that a competing species – a species that uses a similar food resource, for example – becomes much larger to fill the space.

This can become a problem if the competing species carries its own dangers, as if it bore a different human disease like yellow fever.

The team found that other species of mosquitoes are more likely to compensate for less than an. gambiae, although studies of pathways and field, as well as evidence of past eliminations of mosquitoes for example by insecticide spraying, do not always agree.

To validate and improve their results, Target Malaria project launches a four-year study conducted by the university. from Ghana and the University of Oxford who will study An. gambiae in the local environment in Ghana.

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