6 ms·
New drug dispenser may turn human beings into weapons against mosquitos
- tdb7893 10y agoWould this be a human equivalent of the flea and tick medicine we give to our pets?
- anotheryou 10y agogame theory though
- bertiewhykovich 10y agooh yeah, that game theory. mmm. I see what you mean.
- anotheryou 10y agosorry, was too lazy to explain: If only 60% of my village needs to take the drugs, nobody really wants to be it.
- saint_fiasco 10y agoJust give money to the people who take the drug and can prove that they took it consistently (urine tests?)
- woodrowbarlow 10y agodoesn't this cause a problem similar to the "superbugs" epidemic? i.e., the population of malaria-carrying insects takes a big hit, but then the only ones left are the ones who have adapted to survive (found a new food source) and the population builds back up?
- novia 10y agoIf the mosquitoes that are left no longer prefer the taste of human blood, this would be a huge win in the fight against malaria.
- Retric 10y agoSingle celled organisms evolve a lot faster than multi cell organisms. So, one long timescales it would be a problem, but solutions that only work for 100 years are still useful.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- mistercow 10y agoNonetheless drug resistant fleas are a problem, so much so that the most effective treatment for your pets varies regionally.
- vilhelm_s 10y agoThis title is clickbait.
- sctb 10y agoThanks, we've updated the HN headline.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- idanman 10y agoGreat! Let's give a neurotoxin to people en mass so they don't get Zika. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin
- k_sze 10y agoFrom the same Wikipedia article: "The wholesale cost in the developing world is about US$0.12 for a course of treatment. In the United States it costs $25–50." :(
- jessaustin 10y agoIt's interesting that ivermectin kills mosquitos. We've always used it for intestinal worms. It is a marvelous compound.
- projektfu 10y agoIvermectin, and a lot of other drugs in the class of macrocyclic lactones, are considered "endectocides" in that they kill nematodes (endoparasites) and insects (ectoparasites). I don't understand why they aren't studying moxidectin, a related compound which persists in the body at effective concentrations for a month or more.
- unknownsavage 10y agoIs it just me, or does that star-shaped thing look absolutely terrifying? I really don't want that in my stomach. I'd much rather take daily (or even bi-daily) pills, or even some sort of slow release injection.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoJust you, or just anyone who reads the article. It's soft and flexible. More importantly a consumer, you'd swallow an ordinarily sized gelatin pill. In the few minutes as the gelatin dissolved, that star would unfurl. In a few weeks, that too would dissolve. People are really bad at taking pills on a schedule. This seems like a novel solution.
- hughes 10y agoI thought it was one of the more interesting parts of the article! Deploying a multi-week dose of anything in a single pill seems like a fantastic tool.
- devenson 10y agoI agree, they'll have a problem there! Have it unfurl into a lucky clover shape or something.
- beloch 10y agoGiving this to livestock would also be pretty deadly to mosquitoes. Using cows and pigs to fight malaria is not a half-bad idea.
- jfoster 10y agoWhat if the effect of this approach is not eradication of mosquitoes but evolution, though? Mosquitos evolving to avoid livestock would need to compensate by feeding more somewhere else. That somewhere might be humans.
- mvid 10y agoOr they might just die. Evolution doesn't give guarantees.
- Sniffnoy 10y agoDeadly to mosquitoes, but depending on where you are, it could be a lot less deadly to malaria mosquitoes. Just going by Wikipedia[0] here: > One important behavioral factor is the degree to which an Anopheles species prefers to feed on humans (anthropophily) or animals such as cattle or birds. Anthropophilic Anopheles are more likely to transmit the malaria parasites from one person to another. Most Anopheles mosquitoes are not exclusively anthropophilic or zoophilic. However, the primary malaria vectors in Africa, A. gambiae and A. funestus, are strongly anthropophilic and, consequently, are two of the most efficient malaria vectors in the world. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anopheles#Preferred_sources_for_blood_meals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anopheles#Preferred_sources_fo...
- notgood 10y agoWouldn't it be possible to make clothes filled with the bad blood which are attractive to mosquitos? Maybe using diseased's skin or anything mosquitos want to sting (and keep the bad blood slowly "pumping" using sun heat).
- rm_-rf_slash 10y agorip "Oh my god, are you bleeding?" "No...no, it's just my shirt."
- alex_anglin 10y agoTo say nothing about how it would deal with a washing machine...
- blaincate 10y agoIn srilanka, an innovative way to fight malaria, was print newspapers with mosquito repellant mixed. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-newspaper-that-saves-lives-sri-lankan-paper-fights-dengue-with-mosquito-repellent-ink-9576020.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-newspaper-t... worth a read!
- throawayslacker 10y agoThere's a "black, white, and read all over" joke in there somewhere, I just can't find it.
- projektfu 10y agoThere are new compounds being used in the veterinary world that may be better options. Fluralaner, for example, appears to have few side effects and remains in effective concentrations to kill fleas and ticks for over 3 months in dogs. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these drugs being used to cure children of headlice in the near future.
- guard-of-terra 10y agoHow about placing in our blood flow a CRISPR that embeds into mosquitoes' DNA something that makes all their offspring sterile after four generations? For three generations they should be fertile thus moving genes around.
- maxerickson 10y agoA similar strategy is already in use. http://www.oxitec.com/our-solution/technology/the-science/ http://www.oxitec.com/our-solution/technology/the-science/ http://www.straitstimes.com/world/americas/brazil-to-use-factory-bred-mozzies-to-fight-diseases http://www.straitstimes.com/world/americas/brazil-to-use-fac... It doesn't use CRISPR or have the amazing generational sterility though.