6 ms·

Brazil releases 'good' mosquitoes to fight dengue fever

46 points by fbueno 12y ago

tswartz 12y ago
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/
blahedo 12y ago
My first reaction was, "Gee, what could possibly go wrong?". Eep. But apparently there is some good science behind this?
- legohead 12y ago
  I thought it was going to be a breed of mosquito that couldn't/wouldn't bite humans. doh...
  - ufo 12y ago
    Female mosquitoes must feed on blood to be able to reproduce so engineering a bite-free mosquito is impossible.
    - derekp7 12y ago
      But you could in theory have a mosquito that is repelled by humans, and only feeds on birds.
      - ufo 12y ago
        That trait is going to end up being selected against very quickly. Humans are much more plentiful.
        digisth 12y ago
        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
        ufo 12y ago
        I'm talking about cities. The dengue fever mosquito is an urban plague.
      - pvaldes 12y ago
        You don't need to create such thing. First because is a bad idea. You are diverting more energy from birds to insects. You will end with less birds (new diseases, blood parasites, etc in the equation) and... ¿more mosquito than before?. The fact is that there are a lot of extant mosquito species that do exactly that and they are here since millions of years. They did not have displaced the other mosquitoes and they didn't fix the problem with malaria.
frenchman_in_ny 12y ago
Didn't we already try an experiment like this with bees a few years back?
Eleutheria 12y ago
I'd like to see a recall. "Oops, something went awfully wrong"
trhway 12y ago
>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.
pavel_lishin 12y ago
> 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?
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  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.
humanarity 12y ago
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.
AndyQue 12y ago
This mosquito is the same one that transmits the Yellow Fever, I hope everything goes well, they didnt mention anything about the interaction with the Yellow Fever virus. Getting the Dengue is a bad experience, you feel cold even at 40C , sometimes bleed from the eyes and nose, and feel a nervous disconfort , that I found similar to when my face and neck got hit by a large medusa jellyfish. edit:mispelling

46 points by fbueno 12y ago

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/

blahedo 12y ago

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

legohead 12y ago
I thought it was going to be a breed of mosquito that couldn't/wouldn't bite humans. doh...
- ufo 12y ago
  Female mosquitoes must feed on blood to be able to reproduce so engineering a bite-free mosquito is impossible.
  - derekp7 12y ago
    But you could in theory have a mosquito that is repelled by humans, and only feeds on birds.
    - ufo 12y ago
      That trait is going to end up being selected against very quickly. Humans are much more plentiful.
      - digisth 12y ago
        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
        ufo 12y ago
        I'm talking about cities. The dengue fever mosquito is an urban plague.
    - pvaldes 12y ago
      You don't need to create such thing. First because is a bad idea. You are diverting more energy from birds to insects. You will end with less birds (new diseases, blood parasites, etc in the equation) and... ¿more mosquito than before?. The fact is that there are a lot of extant mosquito species that do exactly that and they are here since millions of years. They did not have displaced the other mosquitoes and they didn't fix the problem with malaria.

frenchman_in_ny 12y ago

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

Eleutheria 12y ago

I'd like to see a recall. "Oops, something went awfully wrong"

trhway 12y ago

>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.

pavel_lishin 12y ago

> 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?

dragonwriter 12y ago
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.

humanarity 12y ago

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.

AndyQue 12y ago

This mosquito is the same one that transmits the Yellow Fever, I hope everything goes well, they didnt mention anything about the interaction with the Yellow Fever virus. Getting the Dengue is a bad experience, you feel cold even at 40C , sometimes bleed from the eyes and nose, and feel a nervous disconfort , that I found similar to when my face and neck got hit by a large medusa jellyfish. edit:mispelling