Taking the Virus Out of a Mosquito's Bite.

• Position: INSECT DISEASES

The high-pitched whine you hear is a telltale sign--a warning that you are about to become a mosquito's next meal. Trouble is, that mosquito might carry a virus, and now the virus is in you. However, with the help of state-of-the-art technology, researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia, can see how a virus moves within a mosquito's body, and that could lead to the prevention of these insects transmitting diseases.

"Previously, the common understanding was that, when a mosquito has picked up a virus, it first needs some time to build up inside the midgut, or stomach, before infecting other tissues in the mosquito, but our observations show that this process occurs at a much faster pace; in fact, there is only a narrow window of 32 to 48 hours between the initial infection and the virus leaving the mosquito's stomach. For this field of research, that revelation is eye opening," says Alexander Franz...