3 ms·
I haven’t gone to pull numbers from previous studies yet, but this somehow sounds more convoluted and at the same time less effective than using neutered mosqui
by k_sze 8y ago
I haven’t gone to pull numbers from previous studies yet, but this somehow sounds more convoluted and at the same time less effective than using neutered mosquitoes to decimate the population.
Do we know whether humans are the only feeding hosts of the mosquitoes? If not, don’t you need to feed the drug to every other species in the region that the mosquitoes feed on, in order for this method to be truly effective?
Not dismissing the study, just raising some questions for further discussions.
- mehSoWhut 8y agoWell, this idea isn't an extinction level event for mosquitos, but then again, not everything needs to be conceived as such. Meanwhile, at least you don't get bit, and when you do, you don't catch as many diseases, and female mosquitos that bite humans are selected against, on some small level, albeit probably not enough to produce an evolutionary outcome unless literally all humans use the drug for centuries on end.
- londons_explore 8y ago> female mosquitos that bite humans are selected against Their lifespan is only 6 weeks, and they might bite 20 people in a lifetime, so even if only 5% of humans had this treatment, I think it would have a rapid and major evolutionary response.