Every year, malaria infects around 400 million people. To make it worse, similar with HIV AIDS, there’s currently no vaccine for malaria. Malaria spreads through mosquito bites, specifically from the Anopheles species.
In what could be deemed as progress in the fight against malaria, researchers from the John Hopkins University have genetically engineered malaria resistant mosquitoes. Interesting excerpt from the article:
Starting with the same number of resistant and nonresistant mosquitoes, they found that after nine generations the resistant type made up 70 percent of the population – raising the possibility of replacing regular mosquitoes with resistant ones that don’t spread disease.
I find that this method of combating the disease to be an interesting approach towards rectifying the problem. So far, mainstream R&D on malaria are focused more towards developing vaccines and other form of treatment. By shifting the focus to the vector agents themselves, this research might provide the breakthrough malaria sufferers have been hoping for.
March 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
[...] writing anything. So sorry loh. For the time being, Please visit HTNet. They got this interesting Engineering at work on the Mosquito. Yaiiii. No more malaria. [...]
March 21st, 2007 at 1:34 pm
‘this research might provide the breakthrough malaria sufferers have been hoping for.’
Hmmm, I’m not sure if Malaria sufferers would welcome the mosquitos too much, as the sufferers would still have malaria. But, the new mossies will certainly stop the disease spreading.
I knew a guy who had Malaria, and he had to take tablets, but as it’s a virus he could never be rid of it completely in his life. Every now and then he’d get a bad attack of it again that’d give him bad shakes for days on end.
But, as a non-malaria sufferer, I certainly welcome the new mossies, as they will hopefully get rid of the disease for good.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Hi David,
I choose that phrase based on the presumption that nobody wants others to suffer as he/she did.
An alternative way to look at it is from a typical revenge-themed movie kind of way:
Victim: Now you shall not be able to infect others as you did to me!
Mosquito: Aiiiieeeee! I’m not lethal now!
But seriously, I hope that this finding will contribute in making malaria a thing of the past.
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Azmeen – Ah yes, I think I’d like to see that movie.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
ermm , this research should be extended to Aedes species .