2004 Life, Science and Health: Diseases Across Species
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HERE A SPECIES, THERE A SPECIES: Malaria and Mosquito
Annually there are 300-500 million cases of malaria and two million deaths worldwide, mostly of children under the age of two. Malaria parasites are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, but only by one genus of mosquitoes, Anopheles. Some of the most dangerous malaria-transmitting mosquitoes are members of species complexes, which means they look alike externally but differ in genetics, behavior or ecology. In some complexes there are species that do not carry malaria parasites at all. What makes a mosquito species dangerous? Bloodmeal preference (human or other), proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human settlements, proportion of infected humans in endemic areas, and mosquito genetics are important factors. If two species look identical but only one is an effective vector, how can they be distinguished? Several molecular tools have been developed that are rapid and accurate. Using genetics and life history characteristics we can identify the most important populations of Anopheles to be targeted for integrated control and interruption of malaria transmission.
Jan Conn, Ph.D.
Born in Asbestos, Quebec, Jan Conn 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 parasite causing river blindness. She then switched to mosquito genetics and was a postdoctoral associate in Venezuela at the 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 population genetics and life history of mosquitoes that are vectors of human pathogens. In the Brazilian Amazon, she examines how malaria transmission is influenced by anthropogenic changes, such as new agricultural settlements and gold mining operations. Along the eastern U.S. seaboard she analyzes the genetics of mosquito vectors of West Nile virus. She has published five books of poetry.