Million infected mosquitoes released in major city

“More than 1.5 million Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes have been released in Barcelona to control the city’s mosquito population. The released mosquitoes are all male, meaning they don’t bite, and the bacteria they carry prevent eggs from hatching when they mate with wild females. The release marks Europe’s first large-scale urban deployment of the technique, which has successfully reduced mosquito populations in cities around the world,” reports The Doomslayer.

Scientists are also using genetically-modified fungus to catch mosquitoes that can spread diseases.

“A new mosquito-breeding facility in France is producing 1.5 million sterile mosquitoes per week to help control the population of invasive tiger mosquitoes, which can carry diseases like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. The owner, a startup called Terratis, plans to scale up production to 40 million mosquitoes per week within two years. For comparison, Brazil’s large Wolbachia-infected mosquito factory can produce 100 million mosquito eggs per week.”

The military dictator of an African country ordered the Gates Foundation to stop releasing genetically-modified mosquitoes to fight malaria.

Releasing mosquitoes is something scientists have successfully done in other countries to fight malaria. “Conservationists are releasing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in Hawaii to control the spread of avian malaria, which has devastated local bird populations,” reported The Doomslayer. “A group of environmental organizations have been dropping biodegradable containers of mosquitoes into honeycreeper habitats on Maui and Kauai from helicopters….The containers fall to the ground without a top, and when they land the insects escape into the forest. Critically, these are not your typical mosquitoes. They’re all males, which don’t bite, that have been reared in a lab. More importantly, they contain a strain of bacteria called wolbachia that interferes with reproduction: When those males mate with females in the area, their eggs fail to hatch.”

Mosquitoes infested with Wolbachia bacteria have also been bred to fight dengue fever in Honduras, in hopes of replacing mosquitoes that spread dengue fever, with a strain of mosquitoes that doesn’t spread the disease.

A dengue fever vaccine has been approved in India, which may curb the spread of this mosquito-borne disease.

Dengue fever is a tropical disease so painful it is also known as “breakbone fever.” In 2023, there were 11 cases of locally-acquired dengue fever in Florida. Cases have also occasionally been reported in Texas, Arizona, California, and Hawaii.

In the U.S., the FDA approved one dengue fever vaccine called Dengvaxia in May 2019. However, its manufacturer has since discontinued production, and it is no longer available in the United States. It can take a long time for the FDA to approve new drugs and vaccines. Many people have died waiting for the FDA to approve life-saving drugs. For example, at least a hundred thousand people died waiting years for the FDA to approve beta blockers.