A Bill Gates-backed mosquito factory in Medellín, Colombia, is turning one of humanity’s deadliest insects into an unlikely ally in the fight against disease. Every week, scientists breed tens of millions of mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacterium that makes it much harder for them to transmit viruses like dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever. Instead of killing mosquitoes with chemicals, the program releases these specially bred mosquitoes into local communities, where they mate with wild mosquito populations and help spread the protective trait naturally over time.
What sounds like science fiction is actually a public health strategy already being used by the World Mosquito Program, with Medellín reporting major reductions in dengue after Wolbachia mosquitoes became established in the area.
It’s a strange but powerful idea: releasing mosquitoes not to spread disease,
but to stop it...
