Scientists have managed to turn one of the deadliest insects into a vaccine delivery system. According to new reports from NPR, a clinical trial for a system meant to use mosquitoes to deliver vaccines has been underway in the United Kingdom. The findings of the trial have been published in Science Translational Medicine.
Local officials in Florida have approved the release of 750 million mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to reduce local populations.
In the 1980s, the village of Soumousso in Burkina Faso helped launch one of the most powerful weapons against malaria: insecticide-treated bed nets, which had early field trials there and went on to save millions of lives. But as mosquitoes developed resistance to widely used insecticides, the nets lost some of their power.
AN AFRICAN FIRST. A tiny nation in Africa is ready to take a big biotech gamble.
Genetically modified (GM) “male-sterile” mosquitoes are due to be released in Burkina Faso this year by the Target Malaria research consortium. However, Target Malaria, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation amongst others, acknowledges that there are no benefits to the proposed GM mosquito release.
