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Fish can fight malaria mosquitoes

Kenyan researchers have hailed a humble fish as the latest weapon in the battle to curb the spread of malaria.

Nile tilapia, a fish more usually seen on Kenyan dinner tables, was introduced to several abandoned fishponds in the west of the country.

By consuming mosquito larvae it managed to reduce numbers of two of the main malarial mosquitoes by more than 94%.

The BMC Public Health study noted the fish could prove critical as mosquitoes are becoming resistant to pesticides.

Nile tilapia's taste for mosquitoes has been known since 1917 but this is the first time field data has been published detailing their use in mosquito control, the researchers from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology said.

The organism is passed to humans through the bite of a mosquito. Each year it makes 300 million people ill and causes a million deaths worldwide.

Some 90% of cases are in sub-Saharan Africa, where a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.