Mosquito modifications: New approaches to controlling malaria

Abstract

Malaria kills about one million people each year, but efforts to destroy disease-carrying mosquitoes have succeeded only in breeding tougher bugs. Researchers have begun to look for ways to create malaria-resistant mosquitoes. One approach is to bioengineer transgenic mosquitoes that, when released into the wild, would lead to a new race of malaria-proof young. Another approach uses mosquitoes' natural resistance to Plasmodium infection.