‘Flying syringes’

Researchers say they have found that blood-sucking flies can be used to detect emerging diseases in wild animals before the pathogens can spread to humans. Franck Prugnolle, from France’s National Center for Scientific Research, followed up on earlier studies that found DNA from animals and the diseases they carry are preserved in the blood meals of flies. By examining blood inside more than 1,200 central African flies, mainly tsetse flies, Prugnolle discovered the insects had fed on 20 different species, ranging from elephants and hippos to reptiles and birds. He also found 18 previously unknown malaria parasite species in the blood.