Author(s): Sonia Shah

Science

Malaria is on the move. It already infects 300 million new people each year, killing nearly 1 million. With climate change it is moving into new regions of the world. We've known how to prevent this devastating disease for more than a century, so why aren't we doing more to eradicate it? Sonia Shah takes us on a tour through the strange biology of the mosquito and the even stranger history of its relationship with humans over the ages. Frighteningly, few of the attempts we have made to control malaria have ever been truly successful, and vast sums of money have been wasted on a panoply of drugs and technologies. Even the current favoured solution, providing treated bednets to Third World countries, is of limited use. You'll never feel the same about squashing a mosquito again.