The Epic Battle Against Mosquitoes

The aforementioned researchers from the University of Queensland are planning on infecting the mosquitoes with the Wolbachia parasite. Wolbachia originates in fruit flies, and has the ability to substantially shorten the lifespan of the mosquitoes it infects, which is important as mosquitoes only pass on dengue in the latter half of their life.

Wolbachia is found in some 28% of mosquitoes, but Aedes aegypti — which transmits dengue — doesn't have it. In addition to cutting the insect’s lifespan in half, introducing the parasite also disables their ability to pick up so many pathogens due to “priming of the mosquito's innate immune system and potentially competition for limiting cellular resources required for pathogen replication.” In other words, it competes with the parasite for resources within the mosquito.