2008 Public Lecture Series
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Here a Species, There a Species: Mosquitoes and Malaria
Malaria kills an average of 2 million people a year, and is considered the most important global parasitic disease. Only mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles can successfully transmit malaria parasites to humans. Although usually a rural disease, recently transmission of malaria in urban settings has been increasing. Of approximately 100 species of malaria parasites, four affect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. In addition, in Malaysia, there have been recent cases of severe illness in loggers infected by P. knowlesi, usually found exclusively in monkeys. Malaria was recognized during the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus, and the first record of treatment against it was about 200 BC, in China, with an extract from the shrub Artemisia annua, now widely used (artemisinin). Ross, in India, in 1897, discovered the transmission cycle. The Anopheles mosquito life cycle consists of the aquatic stages (eggs, larvae, pupae) and the adults. Only adult female mosquitoes take blood meals. They are attracted to hosts initially by carbon dioxide (in our breath) and lactic acid (a component of perspiration). Malaria prevention is by anti-malarials and bed nets; vaccine trials are ongoing.
Related Links
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Malaria Vaccine Initiative
- Genoscope
Jan Conn, Ph.D. Born in Asbestos, received a doctorate in genetics from the University of Toronto in 1987, where she analyzed populations of black flies she collected in Central and South America that transmit a nematode parasite causing river blindness. She then switched to mosquito systematics and genetics and was a postdoctoral associate in Venezuela at the Central University of Venezuela and at the University of Florida. Before she joined the Wadsworth Center in 2002, she was an associate professor of biology at the University of Vermont. Her current research focuses on the evolutionary genetics and life history of mosquitoes that are vectors of human pathogens. With new funding from the National Institutes of Health, she examines and identifies temporal and spatial changes in the mosquito species that transmit malaria, and the malaria parasites, in the Brazilian Amazon and in Colombia. She also investigates local and regional malaria vectors in Panama. Along the eastern U.S. seaboard she analyzes the genetics of mosquito vectors of West Nile virus. She has taught introductory biology, introductory entomology, interdisciplinary courses, and medical entomology to undergraduate and graduate students. She speaks fluent Spanish, French and some Portuguese. She has published six books of poetry, with a seventh forthcoming in 2009.