The new study suggests iron supplementation to prevent dengue fever

want to prevent dengue fever, a new study suggests. Cheng Gong, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine, recently found that human serum iron levels are a key factor in regulating the spread of dengue virus by mosquitoes. In an article published in Nature Microbiology in the early hours of September 17th, they suggested anti-dengue transmission through iron supplementation.
is one of the most widespread viral infectious diseases in the world, carried and transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. It has been observed that after mosquitoes suck blood from infected people, the process of digesting blood and infecting the virus is highly re-matched. "We speculate that the blood factors or blood metabolites of an infected person can regulate the infection process of the virus in mosquitoes." Cheng Gong indicates. Through a series of screenings, the team found that the levels of iron ions in the serum of infected people were highly negatively related to the ability of mosquitoes to infect the virus.
It is known that the iron ions in the serum into the mosquito intestine, can be directly used by the iron metabolism system in the mosquito intestine, thereby inhibiting the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes in the cells, resulting in a significant increase in the reactive oxygen levels in the mosquito intestine, thereby hindering the virus infection in the mosquito body amplification.
Aedes aegypti and Aedes aegypti are important vectors of dengue virus transmission in nature and are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas, but dengue trends are not fully consistent with mosquito distribution. Comparing data published by the World Health Organization, the team found that iron deficiency is widespread in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and other regions that are highly similar to dengue-endemic regions.
"So we speculate that iron deficiency in the population is closely related to the dengue virus epidemic. Cheng Gong said.
in a subsequent study, the team also found that the blood of an infected host in an iron-deficing state, which promotes mosquito-infected viruses, and iron-replenishing infected people, blocked the infection.
" iron-replenishing cost is low, high safety, the promotion effect is good. Cheng said the program is being rolled out in the Affected Areas of Asia and Africa. In the future, the team will conduct further field surveys in Southeast Asia and Africa. (Source: Ren Fangyan, China Science Journal)
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