What’s malaria?
Malaria is one of the deadliest diseases in human history. In 2024 alone, there were roughly 282 million cases and 610,000 deaths, most of which occurred in Africa. The disease is particularly lethal for young children. Its symptoms include fever, chills, seizures, and headaches.
It’s caused by Plasmodium parasites and spreads through mosquito bites. This occurs when Anopheles mosquitoes bite an infected humanand contract the parasite, the parasite develops in the gut of the mosquito, and the mosquito later bites another person—releasing the parasite into the bloodstream. Even after malaria treatment, infection can sometimes return because the Plasmodium parasite may not be completely eliminated.
Malaria prevention includes using insecticides to avoid bites and taking antimalarial drugs before traveling to malaria-endemic areas. Yet expanding mosquito ranges, growing insecticide resistance, and Plasmodium antimalarial resistance are ongoing challenges. Recently, malaria vaccines have been recommended by the World Health Organization for children living in malarial zones, but the multishot regimens have limited effectiveness. Gene engineering mosquitoes to be malaria-resistan
