New tool in the fight against mosquito-borne disease: A microbial 'mosquito net'
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 - 21:28
in Biology & Nature
Earlier this year, researchers showed that they could cut the lives of disease-carrying mosquitoes in half by infecting them with a bacterium they took from fruit flies. Now, a new report suggests that their strategy might do one better: The Wolbachia bacteria also makes the mosquitoes more resistant to infection by viruses that are a growing threat to humans, including those responsible for dengue fever and Chikungunya.