Scientists To Release Altered Mosquitoes To Fight Dengue Fever

This is pretty cool. Scientists are about to release mosquitoes infected with a bacteria that cut cut the incidence of dengue fever in half.

Known as “breakbone fever” because of its pain, dengue fever kills 40,000 people a year and infects over 100 million in tropical nations.

The fruit-fly bacterium called Wolbachia in the altered mosquitoes halves the lifespan of the bugs, which reduces transmission of the fever since it occurs in older bugs. This is the work of Scott O’Neill and his colleagues at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. This effort is specifically directed at Aedes mosquitoes and the altered bugs will be released in Australia and Vietnam.

Source: News Scientist