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Rio fights Zika with biggest release yet of bacteria-infected mosquitoes
Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes will be widely deployed in two South American cities to combat viral infections.
Ewen Callaway
26 October 2016
Two South American metropolises are enlisting bacteria-infected mosquitoes to fight Zika, in the world?s biggest test yet of an unconventional yet promising approach to quell mosquito-borne diseases.
Mosquitoes that carry Wolbachia bacteria ? which hinder the insects' ability to transmit Zika, dengue and other viruses ? will be widely released in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Medell?n, Colombia, over the next two years, scientists announced on 26 October. The deployments will reach around 2.5 million people in each city.
?This really has the potential to be a game changer in terms of vector control ? the biggest thing since DDT,? says Philip McCall, a medical entomologist who studies mosquito control at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.
...
http://www.nature.com/news/rio-figh...e-yet-of-bacteria-infected-mosquitoes-1.20878
Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes will be widely deployed in two South American cities to combat viral infections.
Ewen Callaway
26 October 2016
Two South American metropolises are enlisting bacteria-infected mosquitoes to fight Zika, in the world?s biggest test yet of an unconventional yet promising approach to quell mosquito-borne diseases.
Mosquitoes that carry Wolbachia bacteria ? which hinder the insects' ability to transmit Zika, dengue and other viruses ? will be widely released in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Medell?n, Colombia, over the next two years, scientists announced on 26 October. The deployments will reach around 2.5 million people in each city.
?This really has the potential to be a game changer in terms of vector control ? the biggest thing since DDT,? says Philip McCall, a medical entomologist who studies mosquito control at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK.
...
http://www.nature.com/news/rio-figh...e-yet-of-bacteria-infected-mosquitoes-1.20878