但这种危险也许不再会长久存在。2015年，美国加州大学（University of California）的科学家找到了一种利用蚊子自身基因来遏制蚊传疾病的革新方法。

原来，研究员安东尼·詹姆斯(Anthony James)、伊森·比尔(Ethan Bier)和瓦伦蒂诺·甘茨(Valentino Gantz)三人协作，通过使用被称作CRISPR的新技术手段来修改蚊子的基因。（CRISPR是“Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats”[规律成簇的间隔短回文重复序列]的缩写）换句话说，他们通过更换蚊子的具体遗传物质，杀死蚊子体内导致疟疾的寄生虫。更妙的是，改基因后的蚊子可以将新的基因传给后代。随着所有蚊子都具有了这种基因，蚊子以及任何受到蚊子叮咬的人都不会再患疟疾。

一个没有疟疾的未来？

虽然像青蒿素之类的药品已帮助将疟疾死亡率减少了60％，但新的耐药菌株有可能卷土重来，颠覆已有成果。圣母大学(University of Notre Dame)的遗传学家娜拉·贝桑斯基(Nora Besansky)说，而基因工程“能将疟疾患病率降为零。蚊子自行出力，到达那些我们无法前往或到达的地方”。

虽然自1970年代以来科学家已经能够修改基因，但CRISPR是一种比以往任何手段都更精确、成本更低的方法。2015年，国际《科学》(Science)杂志将它封为一项“年度突破”（Breakthrough of the Year）。

CRISPR的功效可能还不止于根除疟疾。将来它或许能帮助科学家战胜一系列遗传疾病，如囊肿性纤维化，镰状细胞贫血症和肌营养不良症等。它甚至有可能帮助避免香蕉绝种（save the banana）。

科学家也继续在实验室和各种会议上作出努力，确保CRISPR基因技术以合乎道德和安全的方式得到开发和使用。

在这种新方法被不断完善的同时，美国通过“总统防治疟疾行动计划”(President’s Malaria Initiative)继续支持各地的抗疟工作。行动计划将重点放在喷洒杀虫剂和向高风险地区提供药物和专门蚊帐。国际抗疟运动的目标是到2050年根除疟疾。

Each year, 3.2 billion of us are at risk of contracting malaria from an infected mosquito.

But maybe not for long. In 2015, University of California scientists devised a revolutionary way to fight the mosquito-borne disease, using the insects’ own DNA.

How? Researchers Anthony James, Ethan Bier and Valentino Gantz teamed up to edit mosquito genes using a new tool known as CRISPR. (That’s short for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.”) Replacing specific genetic material, they killed the parasite that causes malaria. Even better, the modified mosquitoes passed the malaria-fighting genes on to their offspring. After the gene spreads to the entire mosquito population, the insects — and any people exposed to them — will be malaria-free.

A future of zero malaria?

While medicines like artemisinin have helped cut the malaria death rate by 60 percent, newly resistant strains threaten to reverse that progress. Genetic engineering “can bring us to zero [cases],” says Nora Besansky, a geneticist at the University of Notre Dame. “The mosquitos do their own work [and] reach places we can’t afford to go or get to.”

Although scientists have been able to modify genes since the 1970s, the CRISPR method is more precise and less expensive than any previous technique. In 2015, the international journal Science named it “Breakthrough of the Year.”

CRISPR may offer benefits beyond eradicating malaria. One day, it may help scientists conquer genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy. It could even save the banana from extinction.

Scientists are still hard at work in their labs and conferences to ensure that CRISPR genetic technology is developed and used in an ethical and safe manner.

While the new method is being refined, the U.S. continues to support local malaria-fighting efforts through the President’s Malaria Initiative, which focuses on insecticide spraying and on providing medication and treated bed nets to areas at risk. The international anti-malaria campaign aims to end malaria by 2050.