How vector mosquitoes beat the heat

摘要

The scale-up of interventions against malaria in the past decade has reduced the global death rate of this disease by an impressive 42%. However, more than 600,000 malaria-related deaths still occur each year - 90% of them in sub-Saharan Africa -meaning that malaria remains one of the most significant sources of infectious-disease mortality. Africa has long been recognized as a crucible for malaria-control efforts, owing to its particular blend of widespread and dominant mosquito species that transmit malaria. One of the great mysteries of malariology has been how these vector populations survive the dry season, when there is little water in which the mosquitoes can lay their eggs. In this issue, Dao et al. (page 387) report that they have solved this mystery, but the answer is surprisingly complex, like the vectors themselves.