Malaria remains the killer disease in the third world countries and pose humiliating challenge to the modern science to tackle this problem.
In a pragmatic move to find the solution to the losing battle against malaria scientists are trying to genetically modified mosquitoes, hoping to stop them the spreading of the killer disease
Scientists have genetically modified hundreds of mosquitoes at London’s Imperial College. The malaria expert and in charge of genetically modified mosquitoes, Andrea Crisanti, reiterates that we don’t have things we can rely on and eventually this is the time to try something else. However, the same concept could have looked far-fetched few years back but currently this shows a ray of hope.
Malaria kills nearly three million people worldwide every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Some scientists think creating mutant mosquitoes resistant to the disease might work better. The burden of malaria that is increasing, scientists feel that they need to investigate whether the genetically modified mosquitoes could really make the difference in combating the disease.
Mosquitoes bred to be immune to malaria could break the disease’s transmission cycle. That is the nirvana of malaria control and it would potentially transform what the field looks like. This is what the hopeful thought Scientists at London’s Imperial College carry for the research.
But not everyone is of the opinion that these super mosquitoes could be a good idea. Some scientists think that there are too many genetic puzzles to be solved for modified mosquitoes to work.
Some environmentalists worried that genetically modified mosquitoes might create havoc in the ecosystem and imbalance in the nature.
Although Crisanti agree to the fact that there might be unintended consequences of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, yet he could not predict what they might be at this point of time. However, given the circumstances, he believes, this is the risk worth taking.