Malaria

Malaria's ability to resist drugs is one of the reasons success in eradicating it has leveled off. New ways to tackle malaria are being developed, seeking to wipe out the mosquitoes that carry the disease. A gene editing technology called CRISPR is being used to engineer a gene drive. This creates selfish genes that are always passed on to offspring. The aim is to interfere with fertility by driving a gene for sterility through an entire population. As it is passed from generation to generation, the population would be swamped with insects that are unable to reproduce. In theory, they could be driven to extinction. Last year, a team at Imperial College London successfully created a gene drive that wiped out enclosed cohorts of one species of malaria-carrying mosquito. But there is no guarantee that gene drives could work in the many environments where malaria is found in the world, especially in Africa. Humanity has shown that it can control malaria. It has been eradicated in around 35 countries. Currently, the best hope lies in a combination of methods. But in the future, a gene drive may be the most effective solution.