Malaria Vaccination…for Mosquitoes

It’s been estimated that malaria claims 660,000 lives per year, and that each day, more than 1,400 children die from a mosquito bite – about one per minute. Now biologists have found a novel way of warding off this deadly disease by treating mosquitoes with a vaccine that prevents them from becoming carriers. The trick was finding a way to deliver the vaccine. The answer: Give it to humans.

Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium which is carried around in the gut of mosquitoes by binding to a protein known as AnAPN1. When you vaccinate people against this protein, they manufacture antibodies which stay in the blood for several years. Any mosquito that bites a vaccinated person ingests the antibodies which, in turn, block the malaria-causing parasite. While this is not a cure for those who are already infected, it represents a crucial step in controlling the spread of the disease.