Diabate, who now heads medical entomology and parasitology at Burkina Faso\u2019s Research Institute in Health Sciences, is developing an innovative technique that could potentially wipe out malaria-transmitting mosquito species by altering their genes.<\/p>\n
The Burkina Faso-born scientist and professor was awarded the 2023 Falling Walls Prize for Science and Innovation Management for his research, which organizers said \u201coffers hope for malaria control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diabate was named in September as the only African among 10 global winners of the prestigious award for this year and was also recognized by the Falling Walls Foundation for \u201ccontributing some of the world\u2019s most advanced work on genetic solutions to malaria.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Falling Walls Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering breakthrough thinking.<\/p>\n
A leading cause of death
\nMalaria is a leading cause of death in Diabate\u2019s country, where nearly all of the West African nation\u2019s 22 million inhabitants, especially children, are at risk of the disease, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n
Malaria killed nearly 19,000 people in Burkina Faso in 2021, the most recent data from the WHO regional office for Africa showed.<\/p>\n
For many years, malaria control interventions, including the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, have helped to reduce transmission and deaths in affected countries.<\/p>\n
However, \u201cmalaria deaths remain unacceptably high, and cases have continued to increase since 2015,\u201d WHO said in April, adding that the upswing in infections was due to the rising cost of providing those interventions as well as the \u201cbiological threats\u201d that enable drug resistance and aid vector mosquitoes in developing immunity to insecticides.<\/p>\n
Malaria killed an estimated 619,000 people globally in 2021, according to WHO\u2019s last published data.<\/p>\n
Around 96% of those deaths happened in Africa, the health body said, adding that 80% percent of casualties on the continent \u201cwere among children under the age of 5.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diabate told CNN that innovating malaria control tools was the only way to conquer the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough bed nets are doing a fantastic job \u2026 we now have widespread insecticide resistance in the different species of mosquitoes, specifically those that are transmitting malaria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes it difficult to defeat malaria with these conventional tools. This is why it is extremely important to innovate and get new tools that can complement the existing ones. (Otherwise) in no way would we be able to defeat malaria.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u2018game changer\u2019
\nDiabate said he is optimistic that his vector control tool for malaria – described as \u201cgene drive technology\u201d – could be the \u201cgame-changer\u201d when rolled out.<\/p>\n
Malaria is transmitted through the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes that are infected with the parasitic disease. Male mosquitoes do not bite so are unable to transmit malaria.<\/p>\n
With gene drive, female mosquito species that transmit the disease are prevented from producing new female offspring through the release of gene-edited males that are made sterile into the environment.<\/p>\n
Diabate said the female mosquito population would be depleted and malaria transmission halted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the (gene-edited) mosquitoes are released in the field \u2026 they will spread across the entire mosquito population and cut malaria transmission right away,\u201d he said, adding that gene drive was a more sustainable and budget-friendly malaria control intervention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe genetically modified mosquitoes are the ones to do the job for you \u2026 unlike the other (malaria control) interventions where humans run from place to place to deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing about this technology that we are developing is that if it works as expected, it\u2019s not only going to be cost-effective, but it will also be sustainable and can be deployed in remote and difficult-to-access areas in Africa. We believe that once the technology is ready and we release it and it works as expected, it should be able to be the game-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, it may take a few more years to roll out gene drive technology in Africa, Diabate said.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Diabate\u2019s vector control research alliance, Target Malaria, conducted the first phase of the project by releasing Africa\u2019s pioneer batch of genetically edited mosquitoes in Bana, a village in Western Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
More than 14,000 sterile male mosquitoes were let loose the same day during the controlled release, according to Target Malaria, which added that 527 of the released mosquitoes were recaptured after 20 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the release was not aimed at impacting malaria transmission, it was a stepping one for the team to gather information, build knowledge, and develop local skills, the research alliance further said in a blog post, adding \u201cthis analysis and the data gathered is providing invaluable insights that we are already using in the next phases of our research.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been similar projects targeting mosquitoes DNA.<\/p>\n
In 2013, a US biotech company, Oxitec, developed gene-modified mosquitoes that pass on a deadly gene to female species of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits yellow fever, as well as the dengue and Zika viruses.<\/p>\n
The offspring of the gene-modified female mosquitoes die in the larval stage.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency also launched an X-ray powered technique to sterilize male mosquitoes in Latin America and the Caribbean, aimed at reducing the reproduction of female offspring that transmit Zika.<\/p>\n
Diabate\u2019s research appears to be among the first using gene editing to target male mosquitoes.<\/p>\n
Ecological concerns
\nHealth authorities outside Burkina Faso have welcomed Diabate\u2019s gene drive technology, but questions remain about its impact on the environment when fully released.<\/p>\n
Lumbani Munthali, a program manager for Malawi\u2019s National Malaria Control Program, told CNN that although gene drive technology is \u201ca good innovation that is coming at the right time,\u201d its ecological impact is unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cGene drive technology has to do with modifying genetic materials \u2026 so you never know the new vector that you\u2019ll have and what this will mean to the environment or the ecology,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that researchers need to look at.\u201d<\/p>\n
German-based advocacy group Save Our Seeds (SOS) has campaigned strongly against gene drive technology, saying its impact on ecosystems cannot be predicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery living creature, even if it appears dangerous or harmful to humans, fulfills important tasks in its habitat,\u201d SOS said on its website. \u201cThe extermination or even manipulation of a species will therefore have consequences for the entire ecosystem,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
The advocacy group explained that mosquitoes are among the major sources of food for many animals such as birds and dragonflies, while recalling that \u201cin the Camargue, a nature reserve in southern France, the decimation of mosquitoes with a biological pesticide \u2026 led to a reduction in the number and diversity of birds and dragonflies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diabate told CNN that \u201cspecific concerns\u201d about gene drive technology will be \u201cfactored into the development process\u201d of the project.<\/p>\n
CNN has contacted the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for comment on the safety of gene drive technology.<\/p>\n
Diabate said he has dedicated his life to fighting malaria, which he said took a toll on his personal life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalaria has affected every aspect of my personal life: from nearly dying of the disease as a toddler to taking care of my loved ones every time they get sick. I have therefore decided to dedicate my life to fighting this disease that stifles the development of Africa and breaks the future of millions of African lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Abdoulaye Diabate faced a life-threatening bout of malaria when he was just five years old. Diabate narrowly survived the mosquito-borne disease, but cousins ages three and four were not as fortunate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":38221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,21],"tags":[7,47,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-38224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-technology","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-technology"},"yoast_head":"\n