New horizons of grassroots influence (compiled by Kira)
Abdoulaye Diabate suffered a life-threatening bout of malaria when he was just five years old. Diabate narrowly escaped the mosquito-borne disease, but her three- and four-year-old cousins were not so lucky. Now head of medical entomology and parasitology at the Institute of Health Sciences in Burkina Faso, he is developing an innovative technology that could potentially eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes through genetic modification.
Diabate was named the only African among this year’s 10 global recipients of the prestigious award in September, receiving the Falling Walls award for “doing some of the world’s most advanced work on genetic solutions to malaria” Foundation recognition.
Communicable diseases are the biggest cause of death in Burkina Faso, and nearly all residents of the West African country, especially children, are at risk of contracting the disease. Malaria killed nearly 19,000 people in Burkina Faso in 2021, according to the latest data from the African Regional Center for Communicable Diseases. Malaria control interventions, including the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, have helped reduce malaria over the years.
However, the WHO said in April that “malaria deaths remain unacceptably high and the number of cases has continued to increase since 2015”. He added that the rise in infections was due to the rising costs of delivering these interventions and the inability to take effective action. Insecticides are also ineffective at killing mosquitoes and may even increase mosquito resistance. “While bed nets work extremely well… there is now widespread resistance to insecticides in different species of mosquitoes, particularly those that transmit malaria,” he said.
Picture taken from: (Schematic diagram123rf)
His approach is to use gene editing to change the genes of male mosquitoes and then release them into the environment. He hopes that these male mosquitoes will mate with female mosquitoes to give birth to new mosquitoes that transmit malaria.He said：“When (gene-edited) mosquitoes are released into fields, they will spread throughout the mosquito population and immediately reduce malaria transmission.” He added that gene drives are a more sustainable and economical intervention for malaria control.
He said：[這個方式如果能按預期發揮作用，不僅低成本，而且還具有可持續性，可以部署在非洲偏遠和難以到達的地區。我們相信，一旦技術準備就緒，我們發布它並且它按預期工作，它應該能夠改變遊戲規則。]
However, Diabate said it could still be several years before gene drive technology is rolled out in Africa. They released more than 10,000 genetically modified male mosquitoes in a township in Burkina Faso in 2019, and they hope to release more male mosquitoes in more areas in the future.
However, some scientists are worried that even if genetic modification can solve the current harm to humans, humans still know nothing about whether it will have adverse effects on the ecological world in the future.Some scientists say：[即便是害蟲，對於整個生態界都是有正向意義的！]
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#Modifying #mosquito #DNA #solve #malaria #OwlNews