Honeytrap

MALARIA and dengue claim millions of lives each year. Insecticides are losing their edge in the fight against these diseases. The reason: a growing resistance in mosquitoes against these chemicals and a change in behaviour patterns in females of Anopheles stephensi and Aedes aegypti, which spread malaria and dengue respectively.

Non-profit diseases

 

Chikungunya spreads its tentacles

 

Science for ecology

Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment announce that the winner of the 2001 Green Scientist Award is V P Sharma , former head of the Malaria Research Centre.

Agent B483

FROM sophisticated insecticides to genetic modification, scientists have tried every possible mechanism to eliminate menacing mosquitoes. But the measures only raised environmental concerns and resulted in sturdier mosquitoes. Scientists are, therefore, working hard to find out more biological control agents to combat the disease-spreading vector. The latest to join the arsenal are bacteria.

Fever stalks UP

It’s four months now. Baba Raghav Das Medical College (BRDMC) in Gorakhpur has been brimming with children. Most are unconscious. Many have drip needles pierced through their skinny arms and legs. Their parents line the hospital corridors, eating, sleeping, weeping and some even defecating.

Herbal warfare against dengue

USE of insecticides to get rid of mosquitoes is known to be detrimental to the environment and human health. A finding on how larvae of mosquitoes which cause dengue and filariasis can be killed in an eco-friendly way, therefore, holds significance.

Malaria hits anti-poaching efforts

Describe your study and its findings.

Fever still a mystery

A mystery fever is stalking children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district. As many as 47 children succumbed to the disease by June 29. Seventy-nine others, admitted in the two government hospitals in the district, were either undergoing treatment or had been discharged after treatment.

Mosquitoes befuddled

MOSQUITOES rely on chemical cues such as smell of human breath, sweat and skin to get to a potential prey. This olfactory pathway has spawned several research papers. The latest comes from scientists led by Anandasankar Ray from the University of California, USA. They have discovered chemicals which can prevent mosquitoes from seeking a blood-meal. Mated female mosquitoes seek human blood before laying eggs. This blood meal is essential for the development of mosquito offsprings.