Researchers find new approach to control Dengue, Zika by genetically modifying mosquitoes

Apart from the novel coronavirus, there are other diseases plaguing the mankind. Every year, a huge number of people die from mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquitoes, considered to be the deadliest living creatures, transmit viruses which lead to harmful infections like Dengue and Zika. A new study carried out in Indonesia has shown that dengue infection rates decreased in regions where the genetically modified mosquitoes were introduced.

The aim of the impact study is to control diseases like Dengue fever and Zika virus. A French company called InnovaFeed, which produces insects to feed livestock, has collaborated with the Australian research World Mosquito Program (WMP) to make the first industrial-level production of mosquitoes.These modified mosquitoes can be released outisde in order to reduce the number of mosquitoes that carry diseases like dengue or the Zika virus, as an effective means of controlling the blood-sucking creatures' population.  

Ten years ago, WMP unveiled a project, partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project focused on immunizing female mosquitoes with a bacterium which removes the transmission of viruses such as dengue to humans. These mosquitoes inoculated with the bacterium called Wolbachia were let free in Australia, followed by Brazil, New Caledonia, and Indonesia. In Indonesia, the impact study carried out on 300,000 people showed that dengue infection rates decreased by 77 percent in the areas where the genetically modified mosquitoes were let loose.  

Read: Dengue Prevention Efforts Stifled By Coronavirus Pandemic

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Genetically modified mosquitoes to be released in Florida 

The recent partnership between InnovaFeed and WMP targets at taking this method to another level. Apart from this, another organised called Oxitec, located in the UK and financed by American funds, got the approval of a pilot project from the US agency to release its lab-modified mosquitoes in Florida. Speaking about the project, a spokesperson for Oxitec reportedly said that the company’s safe, non-biting male mosquitoes are designed to suppress local wild populations of disease-spreading mosquitoes.

The spokesperson also added that these mosquitoes carry a self-limiting gene which means that when males mate with females, their offspring gets a copy of this gene, which prevents females from surviving to adulthood. This in turn reduces the wild pest population. In Florida, nearly 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes will be released to control the natural mosquitoes.  

Scientists have earlier warned that global warming could trigger outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya or zika as mosquitoes prefer warm temperatures and have longer breeding periods. Reportedly, dengue cases have increased rapidly in the last two decades, going from 500,000 cases in 2000 to 4.2 million in 2019. Dengue usually causes fever, nausea, muscle and joint pains, but can pose a higher threat if it provokes internal bleeding or attacks vital organs.

(Image credit: PTI)

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