Mosquitoes – genetic modification easier than pulling wings off

Dengue fever is still a major risk in tropical areas, especially Africa, Asia, and the western Pacific. Spread through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, dengue fever causes severe flu-like symptoms and can kill. The punch line is this – there is no vaccine or treatment for the disease.

But out-of-the-box thinking researchers in the United States and England had a thought. What if they could genetically modify the female mosquito so that she could not fly? This would severely limit the insect’s ranging habits, after all, how far can a mosquito walk in a day, and even then, will she be too tired to bite?

In the face of this genetic modification plan, when all female mosquitoes are walking around on the ground getting squashed into oblivion by feet everywhere, will the species even survive? Do we want a world free of mosquitoes? Don’t answer too quickly. And that’s the problem involved with tinkering in genetics – we can’t anticipate and predict every long term result that might occur from a genetic tweak here and a twist there.

Researchers anticipate that the genetic alterations would call for reduced usage of chemical insecticides world wide, which is generally assumed to be a good thing.

Flightless mosquitoes?

Stay tuned!

The Holistic Survival Team