Agriculture Department spokeswoman Denise Feiber says the menacing creatures also carry a human parasite called rat lungworm, which is a form of meningitis and potentially deadly.

CNN: SHARE THIS

Just as researchers use mice to model human physiology, so they use this parasite, Plasmodium berghei, to model the lethal Plasmodium falciparum.

ECONOMIST: Recruiting mosquitoes to fight malaria

Another practical point is that the type of malarial parasite used in this and many other experiments is not actually one that causes human disease.

ECONOMIST: Recruiting mosquitoes to fight malaria