Africa recently marked its second annual Africa Malaria Day designed to highlight efforts at controlling the deadly disease. Almost one million people die from malaria-related complications annually; 90 percent of those victims are in Africa.
Despite the horrific figures, reports of new breakthroughs in understanding the mosquitoes that carry malaria was announced.
The Hartford Courant published a report on April 23, 2002, claiming that gene researchers would soon announce the completion of their efforts to sequence the mosquito genome.
This would mean that the genome for all three organisms involved in malaria — humans, mosquitoes, and the malaria parasite — have been sequenced, which should give researchers new insights into how malaria spreads and how better to treat and/or prevent it.
The Courant also reported that researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio will soon report that they managed to modify mosquitoes in the lab so that they were incapable of transmitting malaria.
Hopefully these new findings will mean the dawning of a new era of malaria research — one that can finally find a way to eradicate this disease.
Sources:
Africa marks war on malaria. Corrine, Podger, The BBC, April 25, 2002.
Scientists near big victory in mosquito wars. Robert Cooke, The Hartford Courant, April 23, 2002.