Five years ago, in an office complex with a giant sculpture of a mosquito just northwest of Phnom Penh, Jessica Manning struck on a novel idea.
Rather than spend more years in what felt like a futile search for a malaria vaccine, she would take on all mosquito-borne pathogens at once.Building on the work of colleagues and other scientists, Manning, a clinical researcher for the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, believed she could use pieces of mosquito saliva protein to build a universal vaccine.
Michael McCracken, a researcher not involved in the study, called the initial results "foundational." The global disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a sharp focus to infectious diseases and vaccine research. One of the key areas of concern are pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes. Scientists have known for decades that mosquito spit helps establish mosquito-borne infections and enhance their severity. Just recently, scientists have begun to exploit this.
More trials are needed to determine the effect the mosquito spit vaccine would have against actual pathogens. Thomas has previously worked on dengue vaccine programs for the US Department of Defense and helped manage its response to Ebola and the Zika virus.
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