Vaccine and drug research aimed at ticks and mosquitoes to prevent disease transmission
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 - 18:07
in Health & Medicine
Most successful vaccines and drugs rely on protecting humans or animals by blocking certain bacteria from growing in their systems. But, a new theory actually hopes to take stopping infectious diseases such as West Nile virus and Malaria to the next level by disabling insects from transmitting these viruses. Research to be presented at the 57th American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting in New Orleans, explains how vaccines and drugs may not only be able to stop disease transmission, but also prematurely kill the vectors carrying these diseases; such vectors include ticks, sand flies and mosquitoes - the insects responsible for most deaths world wide.