24 August 2019 | New Scientist | 3IN ROME 1500 years ago, a mysterious
plague swept through the city. Of the
hundreds of children killed, one was
buried in a cemetery on the outskirts of
the city. In 2001, her body was exhumed
and autopsied using modern genetic
techniques. The tests showed she had
died of malaria – the earliest confirmed
case of a disease that has been with us
since time immemorial.
Malaria may have killed perhaps half
of all the people who have ever lived. For
most readers of this magazine, however,
it is a distant scourge, perhaps recalled
only when ordering medication for an
exotic holiday.
Such forgetfulness is neither justified
nor wise. In 2018, malaria infected
219 million people, and killed around
435,000. Most of those who die are
children under 5, mostly in sub-SaharanAfrica. But almost half of the world’s
population is at risk. Climate change is
likely to increase that number, as
conditions change to allow malarial
mosquitoes to thrive in new areas.
Over the years we have made many
attempts to eradicate malaria, targeting
either mosquitoes or Plasmodium, the
parasitic microorganisms the insects
carry that are ultimately responsible for
the disease. Each time, either parasite or
insect – or both – have clung on, evolvedresistance and bounced back.
One of the most promising
methods to defeat malaria looks to
be one of the newest. Lab tests of gene-
drive technology, which manipulates
the DNA of mosquitoes to make them
infertile, has seen populations driven to
extinction. The technique also seems
immune to the evolution of resistance.
But the deployment of such a
powerful weapon in the wild brings
with it worries of unintended
consequences and the potential for
misuse that shouldn’t be ignored. Less
problematic are practical interventions
that quickly get existing medication to
the people who need it (see page 46). If
we are able to rapidly target areas where
malaria is rife, we will have a greater
chance of wiping it out. Let’s give it
all we’ve got. ❚Humanity’s greatest scourge
Malaria is a distant problem for most of us. We shouldn’t ignore it
The Plasmodium
parasites that
cause malaria
may have killed
half of all humansDR TONY BRAIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYThe leader
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