What animals do you fear the most? Some will say spiders, others dogs, and still others sharks! However, these three animals are not the most dangerous on the planet, unlike mosquitoes, small insects that we don’t really worry about ! Did you know that mosquitoes carry many diseases? And that they continued to represent a major health threat on a global scale. By 2023, mosquitoes have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, mainly from malaria, dengue fever and other infections transmitted through their bites. According to the World Health Organization, malaria caused around 608,000 deaths in 2022, and these figures are probably increasing linked to global warming which is changing the geographic presence areas of mosquitoes! Faced with this increase in injections, researchers from the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India may have found an astonishing vaccine! Presentation.
Ways to fight the disease
Until a few years ago, insecticides produced the expected effects: killing mosquitoes, species harmful to humans. Today, the latter have developed resistance to these insecticides, they are, therefore, increasingly difficult to eradicate and continue their work as a disease transmitter! Researchers are therefore exploring other avenues to combat diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. A recent study published in the journal Nature demonstrated the possibility of using mosquitoes themselves as vaccine vectors. As the site medecinesciences.org indicates, we already know that so-called “replicative” vaccines inoculate viruses during vaccination in order to provoke a defense in the body, and to be immunized. So this could work with mosquito bites!
The Plasmodium falciparum virus at the center of the study!
The researchers focused on Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the majority of fatal cases of malaria in humans. This unicellular protozoan cohabits with female mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus, lodging in their salivary glands, alongside natural anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory enzymes. When a mosquito bites, up to 200 of these parasites enter human blood. Once in the body, the parasites reach the liver cells where they multiply and transform. Within a week, each infected cell releases nearly 100,000 new parasites into the bloodstream, causing the red blood cells to invade and triggering the classic symptoms of malaria: fever, chills and serious complications.
Tests carried out on volunteers
According to them, the solution lies in the genetic modification of this P. falciparum, and through their invention which is a new “version” of the parasite, called GA2. The latter would stop developing six days after being injected into human blood! The first clinical trials showed an effectiveness of around 90%, for a potential new weapon to fight malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases! The team was able to test its vaccine on 43 willing and courageous people, it must be recognized!
During the first test, 20 people were “vaccinated” by the GA2 invented by the researchers with 15 to 50 mosquito bites. And, no individual showed signs of infection afterward! SO ? Do you think this vaccine can succeed in eradicating malaria, which kills many more people each year than shark attacks? Give us your opinion, or share your experience with us. Please notify us of any errors in the text, click here to post a comment.
