New Mosquito that cannot be killed by sprays emerges in East Africa as Malaria starts becoming resistant to drugs
There is a new type of Mosquito discovered in East Africa, which is immune to insecticide sprays and other chemicals.
The indomitable mosquito the Anopheles Stephensi is reported to be as deadly as other flies, but this new species seems to thrive mostly in cities, towns and other urban precincts.
The indomitable mosquito has already arrived in Kenya, landing at the Mombasa Coastal City, having flown all the way from Djibouti after jetting in Ethiopia from parts of Asia where it was initially spotted.
In fact, it has even earned the name of ‘Urban Mosquito,’ because the spread of the insect thrives in urban areas and is immune to insecticide.
Its arrival could be fueling a surge in malaria that could reverse decades of progress against the disease, experts say.
That, according to health experts, should be even worse news after it was recently also discovered that, Malaria was starting to be resilient to current treatment drugs such as the Artemisinin based combined therapies.
Drug resistant Malaria meets chemical resistant Mosquito
Drug Resistant Malaria has been reported in Tanzania, Eritrea, Rwanda and Uganda.
Africa accounted for about 95 percent of the 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths worldwide in 2022, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO), which said children under 5 accounted for 80 percent of malaria deaths on the continent.
Experts say the emergence of an invasive species of mosquito on the continent could massively increase those numbers.
Anopheles stephensi is native to parts of South Asia and the Middle East but was spotted for the first time in Djibouti around the Horn of Africa, some twelve years ago in 2012.
Djibouti had all but eradicated malaria only to see it make a slow but steady return over the following years, hitting more than 70,000 cases in 2020.
Then Anopheles stephensi arrived in neighboring Ethiopia and the World Health Organization says it is key to an ‘unprecedented surge,’ from 4.1 million malaria cases and 527 deaths last year to 7.3 million cases and 1,157 deaths between January 1 and October 20, 2024.
Stephensi thrives year-round in urban settings, breeding in man-made water storage tanks, roof gutters or even air conditioning units.
It appears to be highly resistant to insecticides, and bites earlier in the evening than other carriers. That means bed nets — up to now the prime weapon against malaria — may be much less effective.
“The invasion and spread of Anopheles Stephensi has the potential to change the malaria landscape in Africa and reverse decades of progress we’ve made towards malaria control,” Meera Venkatesan, malaria division chief for USAID.
Mosquito lands in Mombasa
The fear is that stephensi will infest dense cities like Mombasa on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast and Sudan’s capital Khartoum, with one 2020 study warning it could eventually reach 126 million city-dwellers across Africa.
Only last month, Egypt was declared malaria-free by the World Health Organization after a century-long battle against the disease.
However, that status that could still be threatened by Anopheles Stephensi’s presence.
Stephensi was confirmed as present in Kenya in late 2022, but has so far stayed in hotter, dryer areas without reaching the high-altitude capital, Nairobi.
But the Mosquito can easily cross into Tanga, in Tanzania and later spread to the coastal city of Dar-es-salaam as well as Zanzibar.
“We don’t yet fully understand the biology and behavior of this mosquito,” Charles Mbogo, president of the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association, told the French News Agency (AFP).
“Possibly it is climate-driven and requires high temperatures, but much more research is needed.”
He called for increased funding for capturing and testing mosquitos, and for educating the public on prevention measures such as covering water receptacles.
Reasons to worry
The spread of stephensi could dovetail with other worrying trends, including increased evidence of drug resistant malaria recorded in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Eritrea.
“The arrival of resistance is imminent,” said Dorothy Achu, the head of tropical and vector-borne diseases in Africa at the World Health Organization.
WHO is working with countries to diversify treatment programs to delay resistance, she said.
A new malaria variant is also evading tests used to diagnose the disease.
“The increased transmission that stephensi is driving could potentially help accelerate the spread of other threats, such as drug resistance or another mutation in the parasite that leads it to be less detectable by our most widely-used diagnostics,” said Venkatesan at USAID.
Another added challenge is the lack of coordination between African governments.
Achu said WHO is working on “a more continental approach”.
But Mbogo in Kenya said “more political will” was needed.
“We share information as scientists with colleagues in neighboring countries,” he said. “But we need to reach a higher level. We need cross-border collaborations, data-sharing.”