Why experts say tackling deforestation could be key to stopping future pandemics
Experts studying how diseases make their way from animals to humans say we need to rethink the way we use and manage land if we want to prevent future pandemics.
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Posted: Apr 12, 2021 4:54 PM ET | Last Updated: April 12
A forest activist inspects a land clearing and drainage of peat natural forest in Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia, in 2014. Large swaths of the country s forest areas are being cleared to make way for producing palm oil, says Terry Sunderland, a forestry professor at the University of British Columbia, and that can contribute to the spread of disease. (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)
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London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Study raises hopes that bacteria used to control dengue virus may also help prevent malaria transmission
A bacteria that makes it harder for viruses to reproduce inside mosquitoes is also found naturally in mosquitoes that transmit malaria, according to a new study in Current Biology.
The study, conducted by an international team of researchers including from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), found high-density natural Wolbachia infections in Anopheles mosquito populations.
Excitingly, they also showed that two strains of this bacteria are maternally transmitted to following generations, and have genes that are associated with the ability to rapidly invade mosquito populations.
demeilloni mosquito populations, the vectors of the malaria parasite.
The research builds on initial work done by the researchers, including from Dr Tom Walker, Associate Professor and Sir Henry Dale Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Fellow at LSHTM and the study’s first author.
Dr Walker said: “
Wolbachia bacteria have been used in mosquito biocontrol strategies to reduce the transmission of arboviruses such as dengue in
Aedes mosquitoes. It reduced dengue incidence by 77% in
Wolbachia-treated communities. It is exciting to see that we now have the evidence that opens the possibility to do the same against malaria.”
While
Wolbachia bacteria is found naturally in many insects, natural infections in mosquitoes are less common requiring researchers to artificially create
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