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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’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…
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…