Researchers aim to fight Zika virus by using mutant mosquitoes as a biological weapon. This is not a new concept. It was pioneered in the 1950s, when the U.S. scientists used it in order to eradicate the screwworm fly.
Maureen Coetzee, an international expert on mosquito control and entomologist at the University of Witwatersrand, is conducting research on an anti-malaria strategy. The study is based on the fact that only female mosquitoes bite and they mate only once.
The strategy involves releasing into the wild sterilized male mosquitoes. If enough sterilized mosquitoes are released then they could push wild males out of the mating game. In this case the current generation would die out without being able to reproduce. Because the life span of a mosquito is two to four weeks, according to Coetzee, for effective control millions of sterilized male mosquitoes would need to be released monthly across vast areas during malaria season.
As cited by Los Angeles Times, Coetzee explained that this strategy has the advantage to allow targeting of individual species of mosquitoes. Other methods such as using insecticides have their limits.
Mosquito breeding sites are easy to miss and mosquito populations have grown increasingly resistant to insecticides. For example, the mosquito species Aedes aegypti, carrier of the Zika virus, is especially hard to reach because it can reproduce in thimble-sized pools of water and it often breeds in houses.
A variation of the sterilized mosquito male strategy involves genetically modifying male mosquitoes. The offspring of the genetically modified specimens are programmed to die before they are able to reproduce.
According to CNN, a British company called Oxitec, subsidiary of the biotech firm Intrexon, is working to use genetically modified mosquitoes in order to control the Zika virus outbreak in Brasil. The company already announced that is planning to build soon a facility in Brazil that will produce genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. However, the company still faces strong opposition from groups like Gene Watch, concerned that killing one species may result in spreading another more invasive species.
