Barcelona fights mosquito-borne illness with parasites
In the largest European experiment to counter mosquito-borne diseases, Barcelona has released more than half a million male mosquitoes carrying a parasite that causes effective sterility.
Barcelona has embarked on a large-scale experiment to combat mosquito-borne diseases by releasing over half a million male mosquitoes carrying a parasite known as the wolbachia. This initiative is part of the largest European experiment to tackle these illnesses and follows successful trials in Singapore, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the wolbachia parasite in reducing dengue cases by 70%.
The primary advantage of using the wolbachia parasite is its ability to bypass regulations against gene editing, as it uses male mosquitoes with a "lethal gene" to prevent viable offspring. With climate change expanding the range of mosquitoes, the article suggests that the technology to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases already exists, and it is now a matter of having the courage to implement it. The source for this information is Semafor.
Brief written by urgent.news from Semafor's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
