Genetically modified Brit mosquitoes could stamp out malaria with Bill Gates’ backing

British super mosquitoes could be deployed worldwide to eradicate malaria. Billionaire Bill Gates is backing the British effort to send the country’s mosquitoes across the world in an effort to stamp out the deadly disease. This would work because the super mozzies, created by UK biotech firm Oxitec, are capable of killing off their disease-ridden rivals that spread the illness responsible for over half a million deaths a year.Oxitec genetically modifies insects to use them as biological insecticides. They work by the British mozzies being entirely male only and they carry a special gene that stops female offspring from surviving into adulthood. This is key because only the females bite and spread malaria. So Oxitec’s all-male mosquitoes are released into the wild and mate with the wild females, whose female offspring all die off. However, the male offspring survive and, unable to bite and spread the disease, go off into the world and mate with other wild females.

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