Malaria-Blocking Microbe Discovered Living In Some African Mosquitoes

A microbe present in wild populations of Kenya’s Anopheles mosquito – a key vector of malaria – has been shown to block the transmission of malaria from insects to human, suggesting it may be a natural method to control the potentially fatal disease. The newly identified microbe, called Microsporidia MB, is among the first known to affect malaria transmission in mosquitoes. Despite being preventable and curable, malaria kills more than 400,000 people each year and is particularly burdensome to the continent of Africa where more than 9-in-10 cases and deaths occur annually, according to the World Health...