Scientists are releasing disease-resistant mosquitoes. But heat waves could kill them.
Scientists are releasing disease-resistant mosquitoes. But heat waves could kill them.
Tags: Aedes, Dengue, Population modification/replacement, WolbachiaC. Harvey, Politico, 2023.
A new study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change, suggests that the disease-quashing bugs will likely survive for at least the next couple of decades. Their fate is less certain further into the future. The study focuses on a special insect-borne bacterium called Wolbachia, which has natural virus-blocking properties and is carried in different insect populations, including some mosquito species. It’s not typically found in Aedes aegypti, or the “yellow fever mosquito,” one of the most significant disease-carrying species on the planet. But scientists have figured out ways to introduce the bacteria into Aedes aegypti populations — and potentially slow the transmission of diseases including yellow fever and dengue fever and the Zika and chikungunya viruses.
