Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Modified Mosquitoes Used to Lower Dengue Fever Cases

Wolbachia-carrying Aedes Aeypti mosquitoes.
Researchers in several countries have begun releasing groups of mosquitoes with the wolbachia bacteria to try and reduce the number of dengue fever cases in Vietnam, Brazil, and Indonesia. The bacteria strain causes mosquitoes to be resistant to dengue fever and makes it harder for the disease to be transferred to human hosts and the bacteria can spread throughout the local mosquito populations. Most of these experiments were done in early 2018 and yielded promising results so researchers are now moving on to the next part of testing to try and get a more controlled study completed in Indonesia.

This study seems quite important as there are a large amount of cases of dengue fever in the developing world. Anything to limit these cases will be extremely valuable in saving human lives. The experiment also shows a good application of research using modified organisms.


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