May be you would like to cry out “Ohh, poor mosquitoes!!! We humans even don’t let them do their love-stuffs in peace”, and so on, and so on.
But that’s not true. They are not poor. They bite us. 🙂
One of the mosquitos’ species that is common in Africa is Anopheles gambiae. If it’s difficult for you to keep this name in memory, then just let us give it a user-friendly name like ‘Annoy gambas’. Annoy here means something line ‘annoying’. Because mosquitoes are whatever it is – very annoying.
However, these Annoy gambas population are responsible for malaria, and you might know that malaria is a life-threatening disease.
Let’s have a glimpse on WHO’s (World Health Organization) report on malaria:
- A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
- There were 247 million cases of malaria in 2006, causing nearly one million deaths, mostly among African children.
- Malaria takes a economic toll – cutting economic growth rates by as much as 1.3% in countries with high disease rates.
So what the scientists in Imperial College in London discovered to tackle this deadly disease: “Stopping male mosquitoes from sealing their sperm inside females with a ‘mating plug’ could prevent mosquitoes from reproducing”. That means no more mosquito kids in the neighborhood. That’s very good.
Now what’s this so-called ‘mating plug’:When the male and female gambas meet for ‘that purpose’ (here purpose purely points to sexual activities), the report says, the male transfers sperm to the female and then afterwards transfers a coagulated mass of proteins and seminal fluids known as a mating plug, which is essential to ensure that sperm is correctly retained in the female’s sperm storage organ, from where she can fertilize eggs over the course of her life time. Without the mating plug, sperm is not stored correctly, and fertilization cannot occur.
Ohh God!! What a sophisticated sexual intercourse. 😉
Now how can we create some troubles to their romantic affairs to save our lives from malaria? The good thing is that the gambas do this ‘action’ only once in their life time. So now you know, just wait for the right moment, and disrupt the reproductive process. Our goal is achieved.
Humm……it’s like interfering someone’s private life. However, we don’t know what new elusive tactics the mosquito population will adapt to keep going on with their ‘juicy time’ once they realize human-interference in the most sensitive part of their life.
Now forget all the fun. The great thing here is the ‘milestone’ that scientists have achieved through hard work and intensive research to save millions of lives on Earth. Cheers for that!!!
By the way, don’t forget the original name of the Annoy gambas – it’s Anopheles gambiae. 🙂
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