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Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases of the last century, posing a significant global health challenge. Researchers are continually exploring innovative methods to treat and prevent the disease, with recent studies suggesting that the skin microbiome may play a crucial role in influencing malaria transmission and severity.
What We Know:
Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which is carried by Anopheles mosquitoes, and reproduces inside a human host after a bite. Over 90 countries are affected by malaria, and although the mortality rate has decreased significantly over the last century, the disease remains a major global health challenge (Garcia, 2010).
In 2022, there were still 247 million malaria cases and 619,000 deaths worldwide (World Health Organization, 2023).
When selecting its blood host, the Anopheles mosquito is largely influenced by human body odour. Therefore, the skin microbiome plays a significant role in this process, as it is responsible for the composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are a major component of body odour (Verhulst et al., 2010).
Skin secretions contain over 500 VOCs, including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters and ketones and Anopheles mosquitoes exhibbit electrophysiological and behavioural responses to several of these VOCs. Specific VOCs (butanoic acid, carbon dioxide, lactic acid and propanoic acid) have demonstrated an attractive quality for Anopheles mosquitoes. Meanwhile, other VOCs, including aldehydes (decanal, octanal, nonanal) and ketones (geranylacetone and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one) repelled mosquitoes (Showering et al., 2022).
Industry Impact and Potential:
Research found that Anopheles was attracted to microbial VOCs produced by Staphylococcus and was repelled by those produced by Corynebacterium. Abundance of the latter has been linked to increased levels of hexanoic acid in body odour, which may act as a contextual repellent (Showering et al., 2022).
However, further insights into the mechanisms of attractive and repellent microbial VOCs are needed, and could pave the way for developing mosquito repellents with diverse modes of action (Showering et al., 2022).
Modifying the human skin microbiome to produce fewer mosquito attractants or to generate repellents has the potential to decrease mosquito bites and prevent the spread of deadly mosquito-borne diseases (Coutinho-Abreu et al., 2023).
Our Solution:
At Sequential, we specialise in comprehensive Microbiome Product Testing tailored to meet your specific goals in formulating products, such as mosquito repellent. Our expertise and customised services empower businesses to innovate confidently in developing topical solutions. We facilitate microbiome studies to ensure these products are maintain the microbiome, promoting efficacy and compatibility for healthier skin.
References:
Coutinho-Abreu, I., Jamshidi, O., Raban, R., Atabakhsh, A., Merriman, J., Fischbach, M. & Akbari, O. (2023) Identification of human skin microbiome odorants that manipulate mosquito landing behavior. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. doi:10.1101/2023.08.19.553996.
Garcia, L.S. (2010) Malaria. Clinics in Laboratory Medicine. 30 (1), 93–129. doi:10.1016/j.cll.2009.10.001.
Showering, Martinez, J., Benavente, E., Gezan, S., Jones, R., Oke, C., Tytheridge, S., Pretorius, E., Scott, D., Allen, R., D’Alessandro, U., Lindsay, S., Armour, J., Pickett, J. & Logan, J. (2022) Skin microbiome alters attractiveness to Anopheles mosquitoes. BMC microbiology. 22 (1). doi:10.1186/s12866-022-02502-4.
Verhulst, N.O., Andriessen, R., Groenhagen, U., Kiss, G.B., Schulz, S., Takken, W., Loon, J.J.A. van, Schraa, G. & Smallegange, R.C. (2010) Differential Attraction of Malaria Mosquitoes to Volatile Blends Produced by Human Skin Bacteria. PLOS ONE. 5 (12), e15829. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015829.
World Health Organization (2023) Google-Books-ID: u6UOEQAAQBAJ. World malaria report 2023. World Health Organization.
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