By IRNA,
New Delhi : In a significant development that would go a long way in controlling malaria, scientists have identified a molecular pathway that triggers an immune response in several mosquito species.
Molecular pathway, which can stop the development of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria.
By silencing a gene called caspar, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health blocked the development of the malaria-causing parasite in the three species that spread malaria in Africa, Asia and the Americas, All India Radio (AIR) reported.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by the one-celled Plasmodium falciparum parasite and three closely related species.
Each parasite lives part of its life in people and part in mosquitoes. The parasites are transmitted to people in the bites of infected female mosquitoes.
Malaria infects 300-500 million people worldwide, causing more than a million deaths each year.