GM Mosquitos?

Now here’s a genetic modificiation that sounds like a great idea:

(BBC, via Mercopress):

“Current dengue control methods are not sufficiently effective, and new ones are urgently needed.

“Controlling the mosquito that transmits this virus could significantly reduce human morbidity and mortality.”

The plan is to release genetically-altered male mosquitoes that will mate with wild females and pass on their genes. The scientists have shown that females of the next generation who inherit the gene are unable to fly because it interrupts normal wing growth. Male carriers of the gene remain unaffected.

Lead researcher Luke Alphey, of the University of Oxford and his own spin-out company Oxitec Ltd, said the approach was highly targeted.

”The technology is completely species-specific, as the released males will mate only with females of the same species.
“Another attractive feature of this method is that it’s egalitarian – all people in the treated areas are equally protected, regardless of their wealth, power or education.”

Aedis aegypti, the dengue-carrying mosquito, was an early immigrant to the Americas. It was traditionally only found in urban areas in tropical and sub-tropical regions, but, between global warming and better infrastructure, has dramatically expanded its range in the last thirty years, making it a public heath threat from the United States to Argentina.

You seldom die from dengue, but you wish you would.