Notícias
Dengue Mosquito
Researchers create repellent against Aedes aegypti from Amazon plant
Researchers found malaria-transmitting mosquitoes were not found in places where the plant was present - Credit: Museu Goeldi
The fight against Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that transmits diseases like dengue and the zika virus, is about to gain a new weapon. Researchers at the Emílio Goeldi Museum of Paraná (MPEG) are developing a larvicide and repellent based on aninga, a plant found in the flooded areas of the Amazon.
According to researcher Cristine Bastos do Amarante, studies to create an Aedes repellent began three years ago with the participation of 20 researchers, and are expected to last another five years. The scientists are working to develop a compound produced with the essential oils and extracts of a plant species of the Montrichardia genus, to which the aninga belongs.
The research began ten years ago, after riverside populations found that there were no malaria-transmitting mosquitoes wherever there were specimens of Montrichardia linifer (the aninga's scientific name) present.
"This led us to take it to the lab, study the plant's chemical composition and conduct clinical trials with the aninga. And, in fact, we have verified that the extracts of this plant inhibited growth of eggs from Plasmodium falciparum, which is the parasite that causes malaria. We repeated the tests and started having positive results", Cristine Bastos reports.
According to information from the Ministry of Health, at least 794 people died in the country in 2016 as a result of Aedes aegypti-borne diseases, such as dengue, zika and chikungunya fever.