GM mosquitos take another shot at Dengue Fever

Locutus

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Jun 18, 2007
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Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes released into the wild



Australian research scientists have developed a strategy for fighting Dengue fever, a viral disease spread by mosquitoes that affects more than 50 million people annually and causes fever and crippling joint and muscle pain—and in some cases even death. Dengue kills FAR more people worldwide than influenza, yet it is rarely even mentioned by Western media.

A bacterium named Wolbachiapipientis naturally infects many insect species and has the ability to interfere with its host’s reproductive ability in such a way that entire populations become infected within just a few generationsi. When Wolbachia infects mosquitoes, the mosquitoes’ ability to transmit Dengue virus is almost completely blocked.

Researchers are encouraged that these bacterially infected mosquitoes are safe to humans and, once set loose, are capable of spreading on their own and overtaking the wild mosquito populations that transmit disease to humans.

In two northern Australian towns, between 10,000 and 20,000 of these infected mozzies were released (“mozzie” is Australian for mosquito), and wild mosquito infection rates neared 100 percent—meaning, mosquitoes that can infect humans were almost completely replaced by the ones that can’t.

This approach is a change from the swarms of genetically engineered mosquitoes being bred by companies like Oxitec, a British biotechnology company that has released millions of mutant mosquitoes into the fields of unsuspecting Australians.

Oxitec has found a way to genetically manipulate Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species mainly responsible for transmitting Dengue and yellow fever viruses to humans. These “frankenskeeters” represent a new and terrifying twist in potential GMO (genetically modified organisms) dangers—another product of modern science outpacing common sense when big money is thrown into the equation.


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Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes released into the wild - Updated News
 

beaker

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Jun 11, 2012
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thepeacecountry
I've been following some of the genetic modification in crops controversy , nd as your article points out there can be some side effects, genetic and otherwise, that occur because of these changes. I'm surprised that there is even poorer, less, regulation in a case of insect release, than for the food we eat.

Given the probability of species moving with climate change, dengue fever and others that spread through mosquitoes are going to be a problem worldwide. It just ticks me off that research that hasn't been officially approved, or publicly proved as safe, is being allowed out of the labs.
 

CanadianLove

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Feb 7, 2009
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Here is another GM Mosquito for the stopping of the spread of Malaria.

They started with mice that were infected with the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which causes malaria. Those mice created antibodies in order to kill the parasites. The scientists identified the molecular components of this immune response, then altered the genes of the Anopheles stephensi mosquito in order to cause the same response to occur in their bodies – ordinarily, mosquitoes simply act as carriers of the parasites, exhibiting no immune response towards them.

In short, parasites picked up by the mosquitoes are killed by the insects’ altered immune systems, meaning that people subsequently bitten by those mosquitoes won’t develop malaria. Although the study was done using Anopheles stephensi, the technique could reportedly be used on dozens of different types of mosquitoes.

Genetically-engineered mosquitoes can't transmit malaria