Can we kill the dreaded mosquito? Do we even want to?
Can we kill the dreaded mosquito? Do we even want to?
Tags: Dengue, Gene drive synthetic, Genetic biocontrol, Incompatible insect technique, Malaria, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT), WolbachiaStacey McKenna, Sierra, 2020.
As a major vector for disease, the mosquito has harmed more human beings than just about any other animal, and a changing climate is only boosting those numbers. As the range of disease-carrying species of mosquitoes expands, so does their ability to transmit the parasites and viruses that result in malaria, chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever, West Nile, and dengue fever. In 2018, the continental United States saw a 25 percent increase in severe, neuroinvasive cases of West Nile virus compared with a decade earlier. And over the past three decades, the CDC reports, the worldwide incidence of dengue fever has risen 30-fold.
