An end to evolution?: An Anopheles stephensi mosquito feeds on a human host. This species spreads malaria from Egypt to China.
Credit: Wikimedia/CDC
But which chemicals would work? It might be possible to convert insecticides that are already in use. Using a lower dose than normal would kill fewer young mosquitoes (giving them an opportunity to reproduce) but remain fatal to older individuals, which are less robust.
"The study gives much food for thought," commented Don Gardiner, a malaria biologist from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Herston, Australia.
"Resistance to insecticides will arise and methods to prevent that are a priority. The authors suggest a number of methods that could be used, but they have not [yet] been proven in any experimental setting," he said.
"Nonetheless," Gardiner added, "this is an excellent piece of 'outside the box' thinking that may lead to new and novel ways of combating this disease."
