{"id":6148,"date":"2025-08-18T01:56:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T01:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/6148\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T01:56:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T01:56:22","slug":"this-drug-can-turn-your-blood-into-mosquito-poison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/6148\/","title":{"rendered":"This drug can turn your blood into mosquito poison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mosquitoes may have just met their match: A prescription drug already used to treat a rare genetic disease in humans can make a person\u2019s blood poisonous to insecticide-resistant, malaria-carrying mosquitoes. New research published on July 31, 2025, in Parasites & Vectors found that the same drug, nitisinone, can even kill mosquitoes<\/a> that simply land on a surface sprayed with the chemical.<\/p>\n

The findings could open up new avenues to stop the spread of diseases like malaria and dengue, especially as more mosquito populations evolve to become resistant to traditional prevention methods. Whether people will willingly offer their bodies as mosquito blood bait, though, remains less clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study demonstrates that nitisinone exhibits a novel mode of action distinct from current [insecticides] by specifically targeting blood digestion processes,\u201d the researchers write<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Toxic blood<\/p>\n

Nitisinone is a pharmaceutical drug derived from a toxin naturally found in the Australian bottlebrush plant. Initially intended for use as an herbicide, the drug targets a nonessential amino acid called tyrosine<\/a>, which plays an important role in producing and regulating hormones. Research in the late 20th century discovered that nitisinone was also effective in treating tyrosinemia type I and alkaptonuria, two rare genetic disorders that impair the body\u2019s ability to metabolize tyrosine. The FDA approved the drug in 2002<\/a> to treat those suffering from these conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

The bottlebrush plant, a species endemic to Australia, is the natural source of the toxin used to make the drug nitisinone. Image: Arterra \/ Contributor \/ Getty Images Philippe Cl\u00e9ment<\/p>\n

But the same process that helps humans metabolize tyrosine also acts as a kind of amino acid sabotage to blood-sucking mosquitoes. Earlier this year, researchers writing in Science Translational Medicine found that mosquitoes that fed on the blood of humans taking nitisinone died<\/a> within several hours of their meal. And while patients typically take nitisinone in relatively high doses, the researchers found that the toxic effect on mosquitoes occurs even when the drug is taken in substantially lower amounts.<\/p>\n

The poisoning process blocks an enzyme mosquitoes need to process proteins and amino acids in blood. Introducing nitisinone disrupts their \u201cbloodmeal digestion\u201d and effectively clogs the mosquitoes\u2019 digestive system. In other words, the drug takes mosquitoes\u2019 ability to convert protein from human blood\u2014and turns it against them.<\/p>\n

But the new findings in the Parasites & Vectors study suggest this same poisoning process could also work without having to administer nitisinone to humans. In their tests, researchers exposed several mosquito species to surfaces treated with nitisinone and four other HPPD inhibitors, both before and after the insects fed on a blood sample. According to the study, the mosquitoes absorbed nitisinone through their feet.<\/p>\n

Over the course of several hours, nitisinone had similar poisoning effects on mosquitoes as it did on those that drank the treated blood. In every case, exposure to nitisinone caused paralysis. All of the affected mosquitoes also darkened in color. While researchers are confident the process works, they still aren\u2019t exactly sure why. It remains unclear how nitisinone is absorbed through the mosquitoes\u2019 feet or why the other three similar drugs didn\u2019t produce the same deadly results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project proved how important it is to think outside the box,\u201d paper senior author and Honorary Research Fellow at LSTM Lee Haines said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A new tool to fight resistant skeeters<\/p>\n

As anyone who\u2019s tried\u2014and failed\u2014to mosquito-proof their yard with bug spray knows, it doesn\u2019t always work. And that\u2019s not just a matter of user error: Insecticide-resistant mosquito variants are becoming increasingly common around the world. Some studies suggest that mosquitoes capable of surviving prolonged exposure to current insecticides make up as much as 30 percent of the population<\/a>. Research from the World Health Organization estimates that mosquitoes resistant to at least one insecticide have been detected in over 90 percent of countries<\/a> where malaria is considered endemic. That\u2019s a troubling trend, especially considering malaria still infects an estimated 263 million people every year<\/a>, nearly 600,000 of which end up dying from it.<\/p>\n

Related Mosquito Stories<\/p>\n

How to build a mosquito kill bucket<\/a><\/p>\n

What would a world without mosquitoes look like?<\/a><\/p>\n

11 home remedies for mosquito bites to battle the itch<\/a><\/p>\n

Mosquitoes can barely see\u2013but a male\u2019s vision perks up when they hear a female<\/a><\/p>\n

Can a bold new plan to stop mosquitoes catch on?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nitisinone findings offer an encouraging sign that effective alternatives for controlling mosquito populations may already exist. Evidence that mere exposure to surfaces treated with the drug is an effective skeeter killer suggests nitisinone could potentially be applied to nets or other bedding materials as an alternative to traditional insecticides.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with a drug like nitisinone, and its versatility, bodes well for creating new products to combat mosquitoes,\u201d Haines said. \u201cThe fact that it effectively kills insecticide-resistant mosquitoes could be a game-changer in areas where resistance to current insecticides is causing public health interventions to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humans certainly aren\u2019t lacking in creativity when it comes to killing mosquitoes. Genetically modified mosquitoes designed only to produce male offspring<\/a> have been released in certain parts of the U.S. with the hopes that they will reduce overall populations. In Hawaii, the firm Drone Amplified recently dropped dozens of biodegradable, lab grown mosquito pods<\/a> over forest areas in effort to combat the area\u2019s invasive mosquito population. More recently, scientists in China released cannibal \u201celephant mosquitos\u201d<\/a> that are intended to eat the larvae of their smaller cousins capable of carrying dengue.<\/p>\n

Those more extravagant solutions aren\u2019t always necessary though. In the future, households looking to keep the buzzing at bay might simply be able to rub so nitisinone on their screens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mosquitoes may have just met their match: A prescription drug already used to treat a rare genetic disease…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[18,135,475,474,19,6224,17,6223,6227,6225,6226,172,6228],"class_list":{"0":"post-6148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-insecticides","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-mosquito-populations","16":"tag-mosquito-species","17":"tag-nitisinone","18":"tag-prescription-drug","19":"tag-research","20":"tag-toxic-blood"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}