Giving animals drugs so mosquitoes that bite them die
Official title: Isoxazoline drugs for mosquito control
Funded at University of North Dakota · NIH-11374300 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests whether giving isoxazoline drugs to songbirds and cattle causes mosquitoes that bite them to die, which could help lower people's risk from mosquito-borne diseases.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of North Dakota NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Grand Forks, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2026 |
| Project end | April 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $207,810 |
| NIH project number | 1R21AI193273-01A1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11374300 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates for benefiting from this approach are communities, farms, or regions with cattle or abundant songbird populations that overlap with local mosquito activity and disease risk.
✕Less likely to help
People living in areas without livestock or significant local mosquito exposure, or far from treated animal sites, are unlikely to see benefit.
What this research studies
Researchers will give two isoxazoline drugs (fluralaner and lotilaner) to songbirds and to cattle and then allow mosquitoes to feed on those treated animals under controlled conditions. They will track how quickly and for how long mosquitoes die after biting treated animals to measure the duration of the effect. The work will combine laboratory feeding trials with field monitoring around treated animals to see how long a single dose remains lethal to mosquitoes. The aim is to determine whether a single treatment could provide months of protection that would reduce local mosquito numbers.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could reduce local mosquito populations and lower the risk of diseases like West Nile virus transmitted through animal-mosquito cycles.
How similar studies have gone: Prior lab and animal work shows isoxazoline-treated animals can kill mosquitoes that feed on them, but using these drugs for community-level mosquito control is a novel application with limited field evidence.
Where this research is happening
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University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Vaughan, Jefferson Archer — University of North Dakota
- Study coordinator: Vaughan, Jefferson Archer
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.