Scientists say they nearly eliminated disease-carrying mosquitoes on two islands in China using a new technique. In the experiment, researchers targeted Asian tiger mosquitoes, invasive white-striped bugs that can spread dengue fever, Zika and other diseases. And releasing mosquitoes infected with a bacterial strain not found in wild mosquitoes would stop them from reproducing. The number of female mosquitoes responsible for disease spread plummeted by 83% to 94% each year, similar to other methods like spraying insecticides and using genetically modified mosquitoes. The problem, though, was that it required swarming the islands with lots of mosquitoes, up to 4 million each week.

Source: ABC News July 17, 2019 17:16 UTC