It's possible that taking a drug can help control mosquitoes because if the mosquitoes ingest the blood with the drug in it, it kills them.
Of course, sorry to say, they have to bite you first.
Yet, still, long-term, it could help. My question about this article is -- is it safe to take this particular drug if someone doesn't have the condition it is used to treat?
Repurposed Rare Disease Drug Makes Blood Deadly to Mosquitoes
" “One way to stop the spread of diseases transmitted by insects is to make the blood of animals and humans toxic to these blood-feeding insects,” said Lee R. Haines, associate research professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, honorary fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and co-lead author of the study. “Our findings suggest that using nitisinone could be a promising new complementary tool for controlling insect-borne diseases like malaria.”
Typically, nitisinone is a medication for individuals with rare inherited diseases — such as alkaptonuria and tyrosinemia type 1 — whose bodies struggle to metabolize the amino acid tyrosine. The medication works by blocking the enzyme 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), preventing the build-up of harmful disease byproducts in the human body. When mosquitoes drink blood that contains nitisinone, the drug also blocks this crucial HPPD enzyme in their bodies. This prevents the mosquitoes from properly digesting the blood, causing them to quickly die."
Now, let's be clear; mosquito larvae do serve a purpose -- feeding little fish. So we don't want to get rid of them completely.
But less of them around the house or campground or school? Fine with me. And less of them where they carry a deadly disease, like malaria? That's good too.
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