Cure against fleas could prevent zika and malaria in humans

A cure for flea and tick bites in domestic animals could prevent zika diseases and malaria in humans, according to a published study today by the journal PNAS.

Researchers at the Calibr Institute in the Netherlands discovered that a class of drugs called isoxazolines, which are sold in veterinary products to protect animals from fleas and ticks, also kills mosquito species carrying disease.

] "Our results suggest that isoxazolines could be effective in controlling outbreaks of mosquito and other insect-borne diseases in areas with limited medical infrastructure," said Peter Schultz, executive director of Calibr

. Dutch scientists have determined that administering drugs containing isoxazoline to less than one-third of the population in areas exposed to seasonal outbreaks of insect-borne diseases could prevent it from occurring. at 97% of all cases of infection.

In 2016, about 216 million people contracted malaria worldwide and 445,000 died of the disease, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control of the United States

The zika as for it, it has spread rapidly across the planet in recent years and is now found in 90 countries

When they are administered orally to animals, flea medications are absorbed into the blood and spread throughout the body, where they remain active until three months.

Although it is well tolerated by dogs and cats, drugs kill fleas and ticks that feed on the blood of treated animals by damaging the nervous system of insects.

On the basis of existing data, the researchers estimated that only one in humans, this drug could transmit an insecticidal effect against mosquitoes carrying the zika and malaria between 50 and 90 days.

"Isoxazolines could be administered before the onset of seasonal disease outbreaks to transmit," said Matt Tremblay, a member of the research team

The authors noted that drugs may not work as vaccines because a person treated could still contract a disease. insect sting .

However, an insect that bit a person in this treatment would die before transmitting the disease to others individuals, an effect that, multiplied in a large population, reduce the total number of infections.EFE