Every year about 100 million people die of epidemics like dengue and malaria. Malaria alone kills at least one million people every year. Most of us know that mosquitoes play a key role in spreading these epidemics. Researchers have been trying hard to find an effective solution to such epidemics, however, little success have been achieved till now. Moreover, these researchers are aware of the fact that eliminating mosquitoes is just like squaring a circle. Perhaps that is the reason why these researchers are trying to come up with a somewhat different solution – ‘re-engineering mosquitoes’.
Yes, heard it right, this time researchers are trying to tackle the wrath of these deadly mosquitoes by re-engineering them so that they may not function like dengue and malaria mongers and if researchers’ efforts turn fruitful then, no doubt, it would be a major victory of humankind over malaria and dengue.
Interestingly, in the first phase of their study, researchers are focusing their energy just to target dengue because only a single mosquito species called, Aedes aegypto transmit it. On the other hand, not a single species of mosquito can alone be held responsible for malaria spread. Therefore, if researchers manage to target mosquito, Aedes aegypti successfully only then they can hope of beating malaria. Giving vent to the same idea Fred Gould, Professor of Agriculture at North Carolina State University said, ‘If you can do this with dengue, you can envision doing it with malaria.’
However, developing re-engineered mosquitoes would not be the end of this struggle because task of convincing governments, peoples and countries round the world for such mutant bugs would be somewhat more intricate task and for that, it would be quite necessary to have common consensus. Moreover, I believe that such efforts can bear positive results only if joint efforts are made to energize such researches. Only then, we can dream of a world free from the threat of malaria and dengue.
Via: Primidi