New research findings raise hopes in war on malaria

Scientists are seeking new ways to control mosquito breeding in the fight against malaria. FILE 

By Sandra Chao

Scientists have found malaria infected mosquitoes have high appetite for certain nectar-producing plants, providing a new front in efforts to control the disease.

A team of researchers working at Nairobi’s International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology found that Plasmodium falciparum (the malaria-causing parasite) increases the anopheles mosquito’s attraction to nectar sources and sugar uptake.

“The parasite may be altering the physiology or manipulating the behaviour of mosquitoes to compensate for the energy deficit caused in them by carrying an infection, and thus extend both the vector’s and the parasite’s own survival,” the researchers said.

Controlling the mosquito’s access to nectar therefore offers additional channel to stop the spread of malaria, said Baldwyn Torto one of the scientists who conducted the four-year study.

Prof Torto said the findings open a new path in the fight against malaria that tackles the disease at the point of transmission as opposed to treatment.

“While there has been a lot of success in reducing the disease burden with insect treated bed nets there is need to look at ways of dealing with the mosquitoes outside our homes,” he said.

Malaria costs Kenya about $109 million (Sh9.17 billion) annually, according to the Malaria Journal 2013 making its control key to the country’s economic growth.

The latest research, which targeted the outdoor mosquito population, found that the vector carrying mosquito was mostly attracted to non-crop nectar and making possible the use of plant-based odor for surveillance and control of malaria carrying insects.

Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) estimates that 25 million Kenyans are at risk of malaria with pregnant women and children aged below five as the most vulnerable.

Children in rural areas are also known to be twice at risk of infection as their urban counterparts.

The Kenya Malaria Indicator Survey shows that disease prevalence is highest in the lake region at 38 per cent followed by the coastal and highland regions, where prevalence stands at four and three per cent respectively.

Prof Torto said the team of researchers has embarked on the search for partners for field research in the disease prone areas.

The scientists is expected to generate data that would be used to formulate disease control policies.

“We can use the research findings to advise rural communities on the kind of plants that the mosquitoes are attracted so that they can be killed when they come to look for nectar or to plant only trees that are unattractive to the mosquitoes near their homes,” said Prof Torto.

Kemri has also made significant progress in anti-malaria research and is pursuing landmark innovations such as an oral contraceptive for the male mosquito that reduces the vector population.