NAIROBI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the Nairobi-based global insect research institute said on Monday they have discovered microbe, a very small living organism, in malaria mosquito that may be capable of blocking transmission of diseases to people.

Jeremy Herren, lead researcher at the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), said that mosquitoes carry a microbe that does not harbor malaria parasites.

"Research showed that the microbe is passed from female mosquitoes to their offspring at high rates, and does not kill or cause obvious harm to the mosquito host," Herren said in a statement to journalists in Nairobi.

He said that the microbe that has been named as Microsporidia MB, was found in Anopheles mosquitoes.

Herren noted that the research focused on microbial symbiont to see if they are interfering with transmission of diseases by insects.

The scientist observed that although the new Microsporidia MB symbiont is naturally found at relatively low levels in malaria mosquitoes in Kenya, there may be ways to increase the proportion of mosquitoes that carry it, to block their capacity to transmit malaria.

"This type of transmission-blocking intervention has been shown to have transformative potential for controlling Dengue, a disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes," he added.

He observed that until now, there have been few examples of microbes that affect malaria transmission mosquitoes.

The study was conducted on mosquitoes in their natural environments on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria and was done in collaboration with researchers from University of Glasgow in Britain. Enditem

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