Drug makes blood toxic to mosquitoes
US, from Bunny of Doom
Bloody revenge against #
mosquitoes might assist with #
malaria control:
Rare disease drug nitisinone makes human blood deadly to mosquitoes...Researchers found when patients take the drug nitisinone, their blood becomes deadly to mosquitoes. ...
Typically, nitisinone is a medication for individuals with rare inherited diseases — such as alkaptonuria and tyrosinemia type 1 — whose bodies struggle to metabolize the amino acid tyrosine. The medication works by blocking the enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), preventing the build-up of harmful disease byproducts in the human body. When mosquitoes drink blood that contains nitisinone, the drug also blocks this crucial HPPD enzyme in their bodies. This prevents the mosquitoes from properly digesting the blood, causing them to quickly die. ...
Nitisinone was shown to last longer than ivermectin in the human bloodstream, and was able to kill not only mosquitoes of all ages — including the older ones that are most likely to transmit malaria — but also the hardy mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides. ...
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