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An Anonymous Coward writes:

The Economist notes of a possible new medication to fight malaria:

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21677039-one-more-punch-drug-used-rid-people-worms-also-new-weapon-against-malaria [economist.com]

IVERMECTIN, a drug employed for the treatment of worm infections, has a side effect. It has been known since the 1980s that it kills arthropods (ticks, mites, insects and so on) foolish enough to bite someone treated with it. That has led some researchers to wonder if it might be deployed deliberately against the mosquitoes which transmit malaria. Preliminary studies suggested so. Mosquitoes do, indeed, get poisoned when they bite people who have taken the drug. Moreover, even if a mosquito does not succumb, ivermectin imbibed this way is often enough to kill any malarial parasites it is carrying.

It's one thing to protect yourself from malaria, but the notion that the buggers will likely croak for biting me is quite enticing.

I googled to find the studies mentioned:

http://www.malariajournal.com/content/12/1/153 [malariajournal.com]
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/278039766_Establishment_of_the_Ivermectin_Research_for_Malaria_Elimination_Network_Updating_the_research_agenda [researchgate.net]

It seems the paper on the second study was published in Oxford's CID journal, but it requires sign-on/etc.

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