Scientists Discover Bacterium in Mosquitoes’ Gut That Destroys Malaria

[one...two...tree 2,762]

What’s the News: We know the bacteria living in our guts are important to our health—but the bacteria in mosquitoes’ guts could be too. Researchers have discovered a species of mosquito gut bacteria that destroys the malaria parasite, keeping the disease from spreading to humans. This explains why some Anopheles mosquitoes (the only genus that transmits malaria) don’t spread it, and it spurs the imagination towards possible ways of tamping down the disease.

How the Heck:

• Scientists have long wondered why some Anopheles mosquitoes don’t seem to carry malaria, while others of the same species or strain do. Mosquitoes’ immune response to the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, and their gut bacteria were known to play a part in this, but to uncover exactly what was going on, scientists collected gut bacteria from wild mosquitoes and watched what they did to the parasite in Petri dishes.
• They identified one bacterium in particular that severely impaired the parasite’s development. When they fed it to mosquitoes, parasite levels plummeted (see graph above).
• To find out how the bacteria were doing it, they tried adding and removing all kinds of chemicals to mixtures of the bacteria and the parasite to see what effect they had on the bacteria’s parasite-fighting ability.
• What they found was that the bacteria were bombarding the parasites with oxygen free radicals, lone oxygen atoms that damage DNA. The clincher? When they added vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant and fighter of free radicals, to the mixture, suddenly the parasites could grow.

What’s the Context: Malaria infects about 300-500 million people a year, and serious bucks are being spent on attempts to destroy it for good. Most approaches are still pretty far away from being implemented. What’s promising about this discovery is that it doesn’t involve complicated genetic engineering—mosquitoes just have to ingest the bacteria to get the effects.

The Future Holds: Our attempts to engineer our own gut flora are still in their infancy (fecal transplants, anyone?), but as ingesting the bacteria is all that’s required to get the mosquitoes protected, this approach could have real promise as an anti-malaria measure. More research, of course, is required.

One thing is clear: Keep the mosquitoes away from the orange juice.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/05/13/scientists-discover-bacterium-in-mosquitoes-gut-that-destroys-malaria/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+80beats+%2880beats%29

[Vi-Jay 218]

You often start some "off the beaten path" threads but, some are motivating and interesting.

Thanks.

Edited May 14, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

we must ban vitamin c to prevent malaria!

[웃 910]

What's the Context: Malaria infects about 300-500 million people a year

What kind of Monster would create this evil creature

[justashooter 430]

not just malaria at stake here. aids transmission is up for grabs, too.

why is it that heterosexual transmission of aids is so common in africa (30-50% of west africans have aids)?

malaria is the answer. malarial exposure dramatically reduces the body's resistance to aids and certain other communicable diseases.

end malaria in africa (and many other parts of the world) and you end most heterosexual transmission of aids.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

not just malaria at stake here. aids transmission is up for grabs, too.

why is it that heterosexual transmission of aids is so common in africa (30-50% of west africans have aids)?

malaria is the answer. malarial exposure dramatically reduces the body's resistance to aids and certain other communicable diseases.

end malaria in africa (and many other parts of the world) and you end most heterosexual transmission of aids.

Interesting. I did not know that.

[scandal 951]

why is it that heterosexual transmission of aids is so common in africa (30-50% of west africans have aids)?

Dunno. 30-50% huh?

Why is it that people post preposterous statistics on the Interwebz that are so entirely easy to fact check and point out as absurd?

http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-africa.htm

In Somalia and Senegal the HIV prevalence is under 1% of the adult population, whereas in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe around 10-15% of adults are infected with HIV. Southern Africa is the worst impacted by AIDS; in South Africa the HIV prevalence is 17.8% and in three other southern African countries, the national adult HIV prevalence rate now exceeds 20%. These countries are Botswana (24.8%), Lesotho (23.6%) and Swaziland (25.9%).3

West Africa has been less affected by HIV and AIDS, but some countries are experiencing rising HIV prevalence rates. In Cameroon HIV prevalence is now estimated at 5.3% and in Gabon it stands at 5.2%. In Nigeria, HIV prevalence is low (3.6%) compared to the rest of Africa. However, because of its large population (it is the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa), this equates to around 3.3 million people living with HIV.4

Adult HIV prevalence in East Africa exceeds 5% in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.5

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Dunno. 30-50% huh?

Why is it that people post preposterous statistics on the Interwebz that are so entirely easy to fact check and point out as absurd?

http://www.avert.org...aids-africa.htm

Thanks, Ron, for providing substantiating facts about AIDS in Africa.

[justashooter 430]

AVERT.ORG? get real, my friend. an english based private interest that arranges funding for aids reduction efforts in africa? and just where do they get their info? from the governments they are channeling their money and PR thru? if they say anything else their connections will be shut down, completely. and just how credible are these 2nd world governments?

the sub saharan west africans admit 20% in your reference. the truth is much worse.

reminds me of the CDC website instructions regarding malaria in china. according to the CDC (which gets it's info from beijing) the only provinces with any malaria trouble are south-western provinces on the border of burma and thailand. so how is it then, that i contracted malaria in henan province in 2007?

the truth is that there was a malaria epidemic (plasmodium vivax)in henan province in 1999-2000 (a unusually wet summer in the province), in which 60-80% of the population was infected. most got treatment, but there are still millions of people walking around in henan province with active malaria at any given moment.

this i learned not from the CDC, or the chinese government, but from a series of interviews with a senior medical officer in the province military hospital who had reported on the epidemic, and later, by reference, treated me. as one of less than 80 American residents in a province of 180 million people, my health was of great concern to the local government and military. he showed me his report summary of the epidemic and it's residuals (thru interpreter), and was not surprised to hear that the situation is not advertised by the beijing govt.

same story with aids in china. if you believe the chinese government there are 2 or 3 people in china with aids, and they got it from foreigners...the truth is that there are hundreds of "aids cities" all around the country in which millions of people are quarantined after diagnosis. this quarantine is also under the control of the PLA (military). it's a dirty little secret that is getting harder and harder to hide, as more and more african and russian travelers are in china for business, and taking advantage of the low price of human flesh in the pink light district, which is also widely sampled by any chinese who can afford the fare. remember, malarial exposure dramatically reduces the number of exposure points (transmission cells) required for an infection to take...1 becomes 2, and 2 become 4, and 4 become 8...

it is bad enuf that our own government shades the truth, but when you are dealing with 2nd world governments where reality is changeable, and private organizations which serve their own motivations, skepticism is warranted.

[TBoneTX 45,324]

scientists collected gut bacteria from wild mosquitoes

1. I would've liked to behold the size of the culture-swab, see man.

2. Did they tame the mosquitoes first?

and watched what they did to the parasite in Petri dishes.

1. What if it was a solosite and not a parasite, huh man?

2. A watched Petri dish never cultures, no man.

[justashooter 430]

http://www.aidsinafrica.net/map.php

an interesting map with recent numbers as high as 38%.

when you take into account the demographics of a typical african country, with life expectancies hovering between 39-59 years of age, and more than 40% of people in sub saharan africa beneath the age of 15 (higher and lower elsewhere in africa), you come to the conclusion that this 38% rate is really more like 50-60% of the adult population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Africa

[TBoneTX 45,324]

Regardless of the health figures, it's good to see that the mosquitoes -- and the researchers -- are such cultured individuals, si man.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Regardless of the health figures, it's good to see that the mosquitoes -- and the researchers -- are such cultured individuals, si man.

Standup Comedy Tips from Judy Carter

Bombing or are you?

Anytime I get a gig that I feel is “So important I kill,” I’m going to bomb. It’s preordained.

I occasionally get a call from a particular prestigious speaker agent. Let me put it this way: they consider the fact that I will work for only $15,000 a gig – cheap. So, when the phone rings with a gig from this agent I get down on my knees and thank the powers that be. I make a commitment to hit the ball way out of the park. I'm going to be the funniest I've EVER been, I'm going to get a standing ovation, I'm going to have the agent so impressed that they're going to be booking me for -- hell -- 10 times a month! I'm already looking in yachting catalogues.

With this attitude, any comic is doomed to fail.

[TBoneTX 45,324]

Standup Comedy

If this is aimed at me, kind sir, please note that every word was typed while sitting down, rather than while standing up (thus sacrificing my image as an upstanding individual, si man).

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Current Malaria drugs are beginning to fail right?