A factory of five billion mosquitoes

The Nature magazine published a news article stating that Brazil is planning to build a mosquito factory to produce five billion mosquitoes per year, which are intended to be released into the wild.

These are not just any mosquitoes, but winged insects that carry a certain bacterial infection. As a result, these mosquitoes do not function as efficient carriers of the virus that causes dengue fever.

Therefore, the market for these mosquitoes is in places where this viral disease occurs, such as Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where it is hoped that the released insects will pass on the bacteria in a way that even their naturally occurring counterparts are no longer able to transmit viruses.

The method has been tested before the decision to build the factory was made. The best results were achieved in a trial conducted in Indonesia, where releasing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes into the wild reduced dengue fever cases by as much as 77 percent. In other trials, the number of people with the disease also decreased, but less so.

It remains to be seen whether the mosquito factory will succeed in improving human health, and what kind of market will open up for a factory producing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes.

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