Of all the mode that have been strain to control malaria , one of the easiest could also be among the most effective , a new study suggests . Yet the approximation of cutting back on the regular food for thought supply of mosquito has been disregard , possibly because it just seemed too simple to work .
Malaria is transmit when parasite - infectedAnophelesmosquitoes drink human bloodline . However , this is n’t the way mosquitoes get most of their vitality . Normally , these vexing critters go on plant sugars – indeed , the male person always do . The females use profligate to leave the nutrients require for their eggs to develop , but go back to plants the rest of the time .
To press this devastating disease , we ’ve try everything from killing the louse with environmentally destructivechemical spraysto preventing them father at us usingbed internet . We ’ve even tried murder the moribund water in which they cover andvaccinatingto arrest the parasite while the mozzies go unmolested .
Dr Gunter Mullerof the Hebrew University pointed out one possibility that had been discount – swerve off the mosquitoes ' accession to food plants to bound numbers . Of course , removing all plants around population centers is highly undesirable , if not insufferable . However , Muller noted that for mosquitoes , one plant is not as good as another . In the Bandiagra District of Mali , the mosquitoes appear to be getting most of their non - human free energy supply from the nectar of theProsopis juliflorashrub .
InMalaria Journal , Muller account on a trial where the shrub was removed from three villages where it had been common . These were compared with three others where theP. juliflorawas allow to remain , and three more where it has never appeared at all .
In the villages where the shrub were removed , the numbers of old femaleAnophelesmosquitoes ( the unity where the parasite has had time to arise ) fall by 69.4 percent . There was also a shift in the type ofAnophelesmosquitoes , from multiple thriving coinage to domination byAnopheles coluzzii .
“ This suggests that removal of the flowers could be a novel way to switch inherently high-pitched malaria transmittal field to low transmission area , make elimination more practicable , ” Muller say in a statement .
P. juliflorais invasive in north Africa , being aboriginal to Central and South America , so its remotion also contribute to bringing the ecosystem nearer to its natural state . The thorny shrub interfere with agriculture and grazing , although it forestall desertification and is a secure source of fuel wood .
The test lasted just 18 days , and was conducted well forth from crown malaria season . Nevertheless the lasting effectiveness of remotion can be inferred from the fact that old female were also rarer at the villages where the shrub never took handle .
