Reducing malaria by making your blood an insecticide
An Interview with Dr. Brian Foy
Dr. Brian Foy is a professor in the department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology at Colorado State University (website). He and his coauthors recently published their research studying the use of a drug called Ivermectin to help kill mosquitoes transmitting malaria in Burkina Faso (Foy et al. 2019). The drug works as insecticide that is carried in people’s blood, but its effectiveness, risks, and best use practices need to be better understood. Brian met with Tomas Pickering, from the Africa Center, to discuss this research and their findings from this initial study. It is exciting work with the potential to be a new tool in the efforts to eliminate malaria and save many many lives.
We have broken the interview into three sections for easier listening. Enjoy!!
Section 1: Introduces Brian and he explains the origins and challenges of malaria.
Section 2: Covers the first cluster-randomized study of Ivermectin and its potential to improve people’s lives.
Section 3: Brian gives advice for those entering the field through a few short-answer questions.
