Rare disease medicine makes human blood toxic for mosquitoes causing malaria
Niticinone, drugs used to treat rare diseases, can kill mosquitoes that produce malaria, a new study was found.

In short
- A rare genetic disease medicine makes human blood toxic to mosquitoes
- The drug traditional malaria drug can replace ivermectin
- The appropriate dose is required to make it environmentally safe
In the bid of fighting malaria, researchers are coming with new solutions to reduce spikes worldwide. One of the ways to do so is to control the mosquito population.
Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by parasitic plasmodium and is transmitted to humans through the bite of anophyllies mosquito.
While parasitic disease is usually used with the drug ivermectin, which reduces the lifetime of the mosquito, the drug is shown to be harmful to the environment and can cause resistance to humans and animals when he is used.
Scientists have now discovered a new drug, called niticinone, which can suppress the population of mosquitoes.
A study published in Science Translational Medicine found that when patients take this medicine, their blood becomes fatal for mosquitoes.
Study co-writer Lee R. Hans said, “One way to prevent the spread of diseases transmitted by insects is to make the blood of animals and humans toxic for these blood-eating insects.”
Nitisinone is a drug used to treat rare inherited diseases such as alkaptonuria and tyrosinmia type 1, in which the body finds it difficult to synthesize amino acids.
This drug works by blocking the passage of some enzymes and prevents the manufacture of harmful by-products in the human body.
The current study is based on an experiment about blood samples of patients suffering from alkaptonuria and blood samples of female anophalyis gambia mosquitoes, which is a major mosquito -creating disease in African countries.
When mosquitoes eat food on human blood, this drug blocks the same enzyme route in them, causing them to die.
Researchers also discovered that Nititinone could last longer in the human body compared to euremctin, making it an important drug for the treatment of malaria.
Referring to the alternative use of ivermectin, Hans said, “Nitisinone can be employed in areas where vermectin resistance remains or where ivermectin is already used heavy by livestock and humans.”
Niticinone can also kill mosquitoes of all ages, but mosquitoes are also resistant to traditional pesticides, as it has pesticides properties.
However, the appropriate dose of this drug must be finalized to make it environmentally suitable.
In addition, researchers cited two major benefits of Nititinone: controlling the malaria-mosquito population and decreased the price of drug for patients suffering from rare genetic diseases. The drug ranges between about Rs 1,200 to Rs 50,000.