Scientists found a new way to stop malaria: Let the mosquito live, but kill the parasite inside it |– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

A mosquito does not need to die for its role in malaria transmission to be interrupted. That idea sits at the centre of a 2025 study led by researchers associated with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who tested a different way of using bed nets: instead of relying entirely on insecticides to kill mosquitoes, the treated material can deliver antiparasitic compounds when mosquitoes come into contact with it. The compounds are designed to act after they enter the mosquito, where they interfere with the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for most human malaria. The approach is particularly relevant as conventional insecticides are losing effectiveness against resistant mosquito populations.

Why insecticide-treated bed nets are becoming less effective against malaria

Long-lasting insecticide-treated nets have been among the most important tools used against malaria. Their success has been closely tied to reducing contact between people and mosquitoes, while insecticides on the nets kill or incapacitate mosquitoes that land on the material. That system is becoming harder to maintain in areas where mosquito populations have developed resistance to commonly used insecticides. According to the study published in Nature, titled ‘In vivo screen of Plasmodium targets for mosquito-based malaria control’, the decline in malaria deaths has stalled in recent years, with insecticide resistance in Anopheles mosquitoes threatening the effectiveness of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets. In 2023, malaria was estimated to have caused 263 million cases and 597,000 deaths worldwide.The researchers were therefore looking at the same familiar point of contact, a mosquito landing on a treated surface, but asking a different question. What if the target was not the mosquito itself? Earlier work had already suggested that this could work. The team had shown that atovaquone, an antimalarial drug, could interfere with P. falciparum after mosquitoes encountered a treated surface.