A new front has been opened up in the battle against malaria with the release of the first ever genetically modified mosquitoes in Africa.

Some 10,000 sterile male mosquitoes will be released in Burkina Faso, a country at the front line of the war against the disease. Last year there were 9.8 million cases of malaria there, resulting in almost 4,000 deaths.

Malaria is the biggest killer of children under 5 in Africa and the most up-to-date figures show that there were 216 million malaria cases worldwide, and an estimated 445,000 malaria deaths.

This is the first step in a program to dramatically reduce the mosquito population in the country, and hopefully beyond. The initial release of the mosquitoes will enable researchers to gather more data about the longevity and dispersal of the insects, as well as how they interact with the natural insect population.

“It’s a very important step for building knowledge and experience,” said Delphine Thizy, director of stakeholder engagement for Target Malaria, the not-for-profit research consortium behind the project.

“Although this tool will not have an impact on malaria, it’s an important part of the fight and a conservative way to learn more about genetically modified mosquitoes.”

The insects will be released in Bana, a village in the western part of the country close to the scientists’ research laboratory. Once they have been set free, researchers will closely monitor the mosquitoes for 10 days, and on a monthly basis for up to a year, and hope to demonstrate to regulators that they behave as expected.

The exact timing of the release depends on how quickly scientists can bring enough modified mosquitoes to adulthood, as well as local weather conditions.

The experiment is the first step in a three-phased program to develop “gene drive” mosquitoes — a project that has received US$70 million of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The eventual hope is that male mosquitoes, modified so that 90 percent of their offspring are also male, will be released in the region. This would dramatically reduce the overall population as well as reducing malaria incidence, as it is the female mosquitoes that transmit the disease.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【不育的】búyù de sterile failing to produce or incapable of producing offspring

【扩散】kuòsàn dispersal the spread of animals, plants, or seeds to new areas

有史以来第一批转基因蚊子将在非洲释放，开辟了抗击疟疾的新战线。

约一万只不育雄蚊将在抗击疟疾的第一线——布基纳法索释放。去年这个国家发生了980万例疟疾，造成近4000人丧生。

疟疾是非洲5岁以下儿童的最大杀手，最新数据显示，全世界发生的疟疾病例有2.16亿，预计导致的死亡人数大44.5万。

这是该国计划大幅减少蚊子数量并借此抗击疟疾项目的第一步。第一批释放的蚊子将能帮助研究人员收集到有关蚊子寿命和分布的更多数据，以及它们同天然蚊子相互影响的情况。

开展这一项目的非盈利研究联合会“瞄准疟疾”的股东权益主任戴尔芬·蒂齐说：“这是构建知识和经验非常重要的一步。”

“尽管这个转基因工具对疟疾不会有什么影响，但却是抗疟疾斗争的重要一部分，也是获知关于转基因蚊子更多信息的一个保守方式。”

这些蚊子将在该国西部一个名叫巴纳的村庄释放，放蚊地点临近科学家的研究实验室。蚊子被释放后，科学家将对其密切监控10天，然后在接下来的一年里每月监控一次，希望能向监管部门呈现预期的结果。

释放蚊子的准确时间取决于科学家将足够的转基因蚊子培育成年的速度，以及当地的天气条件。

这个培育“基因驱动”蚊子的项目分为三个阶段，这个实验是第一步。该项目从比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会获得了7000万美元的资助。

该项目的最终目标是在该地区释放这种新型转基因雄蚊，它们繁衍的后代90%为雄性。这将能大幅减少蚊子数量，并降低疟疾发病率，因为传播疟疾的是雌蚊子。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)