THE ESSENTIAL
- Malaria killed 630,000 people in 2020.
- A first malaria vaccine has just been approved by the World Health Organization.
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In order to defeat malaria, Swedish scientists made fake blood, intended to attract and kill mosquitoes that carry the disease.
A new liquid
Malaria is a parasitic disease. It usually manifests with flu-like symptoms, but can lead to serious complications or even death. “Globally, the mortality associated with this disease compares only with that due to tuberculosis or AIDS”, writes Inserm. “The immediate challenge is to expand access to effective treatments and existing means of prevention for populations living in regions where malaria is endemic”, adds the research institute.
To complete this policy, Swedish researchers have invented a new liquid, in which they have integrated a specific molecule discovered in 2017: HMBPP. “If we add this molecule to any liquid, we make it very attractive to mosquitoes”, explains Noushin Emami, researcher at Stockholm University, to AFP. “By combining the molecule with a tiny amount of toxins, mosquitoes swallow it and die” in a matter of hours, without even needing to use real blood to attract them, she adds.
“A bomb”
This process would also make it possible to avoid having to resort to pesticides to eliminate mosquitoes, and therefore to destroy animals that have nothing to do with the transmission of malaria. “Pesticides kill all types of insects they come in contact with. Here, even in very dense environments like the jungle or tropical areas full of small animals, we choose the ones we want to get rid of”, explains Lech Ignatowicz, co-founder of Molecular Attraction, which is developing the product. “Instead of a carpet of bombs, it is rather a bomb directed at a particular target”, concludes the expert.
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