Brazil attempts to combat dengue with GM mosquitoes
April 21, 2014
The world’s largest ever swarm of genetically modified
mosquitoes has been released in a Brazilian town to combat
dengue – a leading cause of illness and fatality in several
Mercosur countries, except for Uruguay.
Genetically modified (GM) in a laboratory with a gene
designed to devastate the non-GM Aedes aegypti population
and reduce dengue’s spread, the newly hatched Aedes
aegypti mosquitoes called “Franken-skeeters” were released
in Jacobina, a farming town in Bahia state, according to local
press reports.
“We need to provide alternatives because the system we
have now in Brazil doesn’t work,” said Aldo Malavasi, president
of Moscamed, a Brazilian company that’s raising and testing
the GM mosquitoes in Jacobina. “We have thousands and
thousands of cases of dengue and that costs a lot for the
country. People are unable to work.”
Last year, Brazil reported 1.4 million cases of dengue,
which is endemic in three of the 12 host cities for this summer’s
World Cup. There is no vaccine. The most severe form of the
illness, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can lead to shock, coma
and death.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there
has been a 30-fold increase in dengue cases around the
globe during the last 50 years.
(http://en.mercopress.com)
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