Pioneering to Combat Monkey Malaria
August 20 is World Mosquito Day, a commemoration of the 1897 discovery by British doctor Ronald Ross that female anopheles mosquitoes transmit malarial parasites to humans. 121 years on, despite significant scientific progress in treating and preventing malaria, mosquitoes remain the world’s deadliest animal. These tiny insects cause more than half a million deaths annually, not just from malaria, but also a range of other diseases such as yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya.
In most cases of human malaria, one of four species of Plasmodium parasite is transmitted directly between mosquitoes and people, but in some parts of rural south east Asia, another species, known as ‘Monkey Malaria’ is on the rise. In this rarer form of the disease, a fifth species of the parasite can be transmitted by mosquitoes between monkeys and people.
We talk to Say Piau Lim, Market Segment Manager for Vector Control in the Environmental Science Unit for Asia Pacific - about how Bayer is partnering with the Ministry of Health in Malaysia on new research to help protect local populations from this little-known disease.
Click here to view our other Vector Control solutions and resources.