Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.
Women read Zika virus flyers at the departures area of Santiago’s international airport, January 28, 2016.
Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
Models based on where the mosquitoes that transmit Zika are found and human travel patterns to and from infected areas are key to predicting where the virus will spread.
Municipal workers wait before spraying insecticide to prevent the spread of Aedes aegypti mosquito at Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 26, 2016.
Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Zika was discovered almost 70 years ago, but wasn’t associated with outbreaks until 2007. So how did this formerly obscure virus wind up causing so much trouble in Brazil?
Why do mosquitoes not suffer from the infections they pass on?
Shutterstock/chakkrachai nicharat
While slipping on a wrist band or sticking on a patch may be an attractive alternative, they’re unlikely to provide any substantial protection from biting mosquitoes.
Disase carrying insects are attracted to light bulbs – a constraint of domestic solar energy.
Jon Nazca/Reuters
We monitor mosquitoes to help predict and control virus outbreaks. And a new technique for collecting mosquito saliva from the field has made the process both more sensitive and inexpensive.
Will climate change cause mosquito-borne diseases to spread?
Steve Doggett
A new drug that stops the malaria parasite in its tracks, and could be delivered in a single dose, has researchers excited about treatment prospects for the disease.
Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit dengue fever when enjoying blood meals.
James Gathany
Annihilate the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and you’d stop dengue fever from infecting up to 100 million people worldwide annually. Here are some high-tech methods under development.
A changing climate may contribute to more mosquito-borne disease, but it doesn’t guarantee it.
john dunstan/Flickr
Mosquitoes need blood to survive. And what better place to get a good meal than a slow, tasty human. Mosquitoes aren’t just annoying. Every year around 5,000 Australians get sick following a mosquito bite…
There are up to 400 chemical compounds on human skin that could play a role in attracting mosquitoes.
sookie/Flickr
There’s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito…
Some rat, possum and mozzie species thrive when living close to people.
Mark Philpott/Flickr
Our world is becoming increasingly urbanised. In 1950, just 30% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. This number is now over 50% and rising. By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population are…
Someone didn’t put on the DEET. This is the Yellow Fever mosquito Aedes aegypti.
Stephen Doggett/Pathology West - ICPMR Westmead
The smell of mozzie repellent is as much a part of summer as barbecues and the cricket. Despite supermarket and pharmacy shelves overflowing with insect repellents, there are actually only a few active…