Scientists have discovered that the malaria parasite produces an odour to attract mosquitoes which may explain why the insects prefer biting people already sickened by the disease, scientists say.
In the bloodstream, malaria parasites release a specific substance, which somehow mixes with the infected person's blood cells to give off an aroma that seems particularly enticing to mosquitoes, the researchers at Stockholm University reported Thursday in the journal Science.
"This is a very interesting piece of the puzzle," said Alvaro Acosta Serrano, a parasite researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who was not part of the new study.
It might be possible one day to make synthetic versions of the mosquito-attracting fragrance to lure and then wipe out the insects, he said.
Malaria kills about 429,000 people every year, mostly children in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation.
It spreads when a mosquito bites someone already infected, sucks up blood and parasites, and then bites another person.
Key strategies against malaria include spraying insecticide, using bed nets covered with repellent to ward off the night-biting insects and trying to identify and treat the disease early.
In 2015, the world's first malaria vaccine was licenced but it only works in about one-third of children and has yet to be recommended for use by WHO.
Other scientists said that the discovery is intriguing but needs to be tested beyond the lab.
"Both the parasites and mosquitoes are very wily creatures so we do need to develop novel methods of control," said Mara Lawniczak, who studies how mosquitoes spread malaria at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Lawniczak said mosquitoes are developing resistance to the most commonly used insecticides and in some areas have even changed their feeding patterns to survive.
"The more we understand mosquito behaviour and what drives it, the better we can target those interventions," she said.
