Ah, with the arrival of summer comes sunshine, patios, and…those annoying mosquitoes. Not only do these pests snack on our blood without permission, but they also pose a serious health hazard worldwide. A key problem is their inadvertent spread of malaria. Sure, they can’t help it if they’ve been infected by a parasite, but the end result is the same – they bite us and we get sick.
These insects are unwelcome, but researchers have gone beyond swatting at them. They’re helping the mosquitoes fight-off the malaria parasite. No, it’s not an odd attempt at good-will. If mosquitoes become immune to malaria, the parasite can’t spread to humans.
So, how are researchers doing this? They’re giving mosquitoes a set of genes with “malaria-fighting” instructions. These new-and-improved mosquitoes would mate with wild mosquitoes and pass these instructions onto subsequent generations. More malaria-free mosquitoes would make it harder for the disease to spread to people. Studies are still being conducted to ensure the safety of this approach, as well as its use for other mosquito-spread illnesses, such as West Nile. Although they’re still a pest, maybe this could lead to a temporary truce between mosquitoes and humans – or not.
Always interesting how engineered breeding can be done to help humankind (as opposed to destroy it, the way it’s portrayed in movies)!
疟疾防治新招：改良蚊子
Translated by carolynmou
是啊，随着夏天的到来，我们有阳光、 天井、 还有 … … 烦人的蚊子。这些小强盗不仅未经许可随便抽吸我们的血，还在世界各地造成严重的健康危害。最要命的是它们无意播散的疟疾。的确，蚊子也是被疟原虫感染的受害者，但最终的结果是相同的 — — 蚊子叮咬了人类，传播了疟原虫，造成人类生病。
蚊子肯定是不受欢迎的，但研究人员不是想办法去对付蚊子，而是帮助它们与疟原虫决战。这个奇思妙想是善意的。如果蚊子对疟疾有免疫，疟原虫就不能传染给人类。
那么，研究人员如何做到的呢？他们给蚊子提供了一组含有”抗疟”指示的基因。这些新改良的蚊子与野生蚊交配后，可将这些指令传递给后代。随着无疟蚊子越来越多，会使疟疾很难在人群中蔓延。该研究正在继续，以确保这种方法的安全性，还可以用来对付其他蚊媒疾病，如西尼罗河病毒。虽然蚊子仍然是一种害虫，也许这项研究可以让蚊子与人类暂时休战 — — 或者继续。
http://article.yeeyan.org/view/345265/315142