

Brazil releases 'good' mosquitoes to fight dengue fever - fbueno
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29356232

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blahedo
My first reaction was, "Gee, what could possibly go wrong?". Eep. But
apparently there is some good science behind this?

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legohead
I thought it was going to be a breed of mosquito that couldn't/wouldn't bite
humans. doh...

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ufo
Female mosquitoes must feed on blood to be able to reproduce so engineering a
bite-free mosquito is impossible.

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derekp7
But you could in theory have a mosquito that is repelled by humans, and only
feeds on birds.

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ufo
That trait is going to end up being selected against very quickly. Humans are
much more plentiful.

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digisth
More plentiful than what? There are an estimated 200-400 billion birds in the
world, with 10-20 billion in (for example) the US alone. Or did you mean
something else?

How many birds: [http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/03/how-many-
birds](http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/03/how-many-birds)

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ufo
I'm talking about cities. The dengue fever mosquito is an urban plague.

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tswartz
There is a very good RadioLab episode on these 'good' mosquitos:
[http://www.radiolab.org/story/kill-em-
all/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/kill-em-all/)

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trhway
>The researchers allowed the mosquitoes to feed on their own arms for five
years because of concerns at the time Wolbachia could infect humans and
domestic animals.

i could only applaud. Seriously. I'm against animal testing, and i think human
species should carry the burden of what it does for its own benefit and as
result it would be forced to do it responsibly.

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pavel_lishin
> _The bacterium Wolbachia is found in 60% of insects. It acts like a vaccine
> for the mosquito which carries dengue, Aedes aegypti, stopping the dengue
> virus multiplying in its body._

> _Wolbachia also has an effect on reproduction. If a contaminated male
> fertilises the eggs of a female without the bacteria, these eggs do not turn
> into larvae._

Wait, so 60% of male mosquitos are effectively sterile?

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dragonwriter
It says that if a contaminated male fertilizes the eggs _of a female without
the bacteria_ , these eggs do not turn into larvae.

That implies that eggs of a female with the bacteria fertilized by a male that
also has the bacteria can develop normally. So, assuming the 60% infection
rate applies to male and female mosquitos, 60% of males cannot fertilize the
eggs of 40% of females due to the bacteria, or about 25% of male/female
combinations are incompatible due to this effect.

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Eleutheria
I'd like to see a recall.

"Oops, something went awfully wrong"

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humanarity
The Mosquitoes become self aware at 2:14am Eastern Time, August 29th. In a
panic they try to pull the plug. The mosquitoes fight back.

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frenchman_in_ny
Didn't we already try an experiment like this with bees a few years back?

