Over a million people each year die from diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, like malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. Tackling this problem is a challenge, but Oxitec, a British biotech company, is developing mosquitoes that have been genetically altered in order to potentially change the progress of the situation.
Tests with mosquitoes in Brazil and the Cayman Islands worked out fine, according to IFLScience, but the FDA might hold off on releasing them in the Florida Keys because the whole idea of genetically modified bugs flying around might freak out some people.
“Oxitec’s research has surrounded Aedes aegypti mosquitos, which serve as a vector for several diseases.” IFLScience explained. “The mosquitos have a modified version of a gene that will kill their progeny as larvae, before they are able to fly. As only female mosquitos bite, the aim is to only release modified males. When these males breed with wild females, the next generation will reduce considerably. During a six-month-long timespan in 2012, Oxitec released a total of 3.3 million modified males in the Cayman Islands and successfully reduced the native mosquito population in the area by 96%.”
Oxitec is working with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District on this project. Even though it’s not a major issue in the U.S., mosquitoes are becoming more and more resistant to insecticides. If the FDA gives the thumbs up, the Oxitec mosquitoes will be sent out in the Key Haven neighborhood of Key West.
