20 to 30% of mosquito bites occur during the day and not just at night, as we tend to think.
- After years of steady decline, the number of malaria cases is on the rise again.
- The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the fight against the disease.
According to a new study relayed by RFI, mosquitoes do not necessarily bite only at night, contrary to popular belief. A discovery likely to improve the fight against diseases transmitted by these insects, such as malaria, which is ravaging Africa.
catches
“Why has the incidence rate of malaria in Africa stagnated for several years? Whereas with the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, there was initially a rather spectacular drop in the incidence of malaria?”, wondered the researchers before starting their work, published Tuesday, May 17 in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Supposing that it may have come from mosquitoes, they organized, for a year in Bangui, captures on the skin. “Each time a mosquito landed on the skin, the volunteer used a tube in which he captured the mosquito, so that it was known at what time this mosquito had tried to bite him”, say the scientists.
20 to 30% of bites occur during the day
Results : “To our great surprise, a third of the bites took place throughout the day, during daylight hours and especially inside houses, when no one considered this window of time as a possible window for malaria transmission “, they wonder. More precisely, 20 to 30% of the bites took place during the day. Why ? Mystery.
The first symptoms of malaria – fever, headache and chills – usually appear 10 to 15 days after the infectious bite and can be mild and difficult to recognize. In the absence of treatment, this pathology can progress to a serious or even fatal condition within 24 hours.
