Scientists can wipe out deadly mosquitoes with common bacteria

A team of scientists, not sprays, may be the key to controlling disease-carrying mosquitoes.

There may be a natural solution that doesn't carry the off-target effects of insecticides on other insects or crops.

Genetically engineered bacteria could wipe out deadly mosquitoes and make it possible to control the mosquito that spreads Zika and dengue.

This is according to researchers from Yale and Vanderbilt University who pinpointed a pair of bacterial genes that could make mosquitoes effectively sterile.

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The bacteria is Wolbachia and it affects millions of insects.

How would it work? One approach would introduce male mosquitoes carrying the genes into a natural population. Once they mate with females, their eggs would die, causing the disease-carrying mosquito population to crash.

Mosquitoes without this gene transmit bad stuff like Zika and dengue.

Those that do have that specific gene can't spread the disease.

Vanderbilt researchers say you could "essentially crash the population," by manipulating a few genes.

It's a buzz-worthy idea for sure!

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