FaunaClassifieds - View Single Post - Oxitec wins approval to release GMO mosquitoes in US
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Old 06-18-2020, 08:48 PM   #4
Helenthereef
Not certain if this is the exact same project, but we had something very similar sent out to use over here in Fiji (South Pacific) more than a year ago.

Ours was mosquito eggs infected with the Wolbachia bacteria:

"WHEN AEDES AEGYPTI MOSQUITOES CARRY NATURAL BACTERIA CALLED WOLBACHIA, THEY REDUCE THE MOSQUITOES’ ABILITY TO TRANSMIT VIRUSES LIKE DENGUE, ZIKA, CHIKUNGUNYA AND YELLOW FEVER. FIND OUT HOW."

https://www.worldmosquitoprogram.org...d/how-it-works

At first I was sceptical, thinking that we, as a small island state, might be part of an experimental trial, but after doing my research, it seems legit, and was rolled out in Australia before being given to us, so we went along and released the eggs.

So far we still have some Dengue fever outbreaks, but hopefully the bacterium will spread and at least lessen the disease outbreaks, which can be a real problem in the tropics. We haven't seen any adverse effects of doing it.

One issue is that apparently the dengue-carrying mosquito doesn't usually travel far, staying within 100m of its original location, so everyone does need to do it in their own locations if it is to work.