10-08-2017, 12:49 PM
There are some great methods of eliminating mosquitoes!
The three I believe have the greatest potential seem to be:
(1) introduction of mosquitoes infected with a Wolbachia bacterium that makes their offspring infertile.
(2) introduction of sterile males (a wide variety of methods are used to sterilize).
(3) introduction of CRISPR-Cas gene edited mosquitoes with gene drives.
A lot of this has limited testing outside the laboratory but you can look at Oxitec's (UK) work in the Florida Key's for some reference.
I always thought Hawaii was the best place to attempt mosquito eradication due to mosquitoes being an introduced invasive species.
The three I believe have the greatest potential seem to be:
(1) introduction of mosquitoes infected with a Wolbachia bacterium that makes their offspring infertile.
(2) introduction of sterile males (a wide variety of methods are used to sterilize).
(3) introduction of CRISPR-Cas gene edited mosquitoes with gene drives.
A lot of this has limited testing outside the laboratory but you can look at Oxitec's (UK) work in the Florida Key's for some reference.
I always thought Hawaii was the best place to attempt mosquito eradication due to mosquitoes being an introduced invasive species.