The use of genetically engineered mosquitoes to control dengue and chikungunya-causing Aedes aegypti mosquito population in the wild got a shot in the arm in a study undertaken in Juazeiro, northeast Brazil. Researchers successfully reduced the A. aegypti population in the wild by as much as 95 per cent, thus effectively preventing dengue and chikungunya epidemic disease. The study was carried out in 2011-12.

The results, published recently in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, are in line with an earlier field trial at Grand Cayman.

Dengue resurfaced in Brazil in 1981, and it is estimated that 16 million dengue infections occur every year. Over 390 million dengue cases are reported annually across the world.

Sustained release of genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes (OX513A) in the city every week for one year by Oxitec, a British company founded and part-owned by the University of Oxford, helped cut the transmission rate drastically.

The transgenic mosquitoes compete with the naturally occurring A. aegypti male mosquitoes to mate with the females. With sustained release, the number of transgenic mosquitoes outnumbered and suppressed the naturally occurring wild males............Read more

Source web page: The Hindu