Australian Experiment Wipes Out 80% of Aedes Aegypti Mosquito

Can you actually imagine getting rid of 80 percent of the local mosquitoes? No more buzzing around you. No more swatting. No more misting. Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? Now think of it globally. If a plan like this really worked it could forever change the course of millions of lives in places where malaria is prevalent. Taking this experiment and making it a working solution could save more lives than we can imagine.

How Scientists Eliminated 80% of Mosquitoes in an Experiment

Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and the James Cook University conducted an experiment in making 20 million male Aedes Aegytpi mosquitoes sterile. After doing so they released the mosquitoes in an area of 3 towns in Queensland, Australia. Aedes Aegypti are responsible for spreading Zika Virus, West Nile Virus, Chikungunya, and other dangerous diseases.

The sterile males not only didn’t bite or spread disease but also when they mated with the females in the wild, their eggs didn’t hatch. The mosquito population crashed. Sterilizing mosquitoes is a technique that has been around since the 1950s but has never been used against aggressive mosquitoes like the Aedes aegypti.This is not the first time this approach has removed mosquitoes in these regions, but before it was against mosquitoes that didn’t carry disease. The ramifications of being able to eliminate dangerous disease-carrying mosquitoes in this manner are extraordinary. This research group, in partnership with Verily, a health research organization owned by Google parent Alphabet, hopes to continue trials like this one.

Malaria No More

Malaria No More is an organization with a mission to end malaria within this generation. “We envision a world where no one dies from a mosquito bite.” It is these types of experiments that will make this possible. Funding and global cooperation are necessary to battle the greatest killer of humans on Earth. At Mosquito Squad of Twin Cities, we too partner with Malaria No More to raise money to fight malaria in Africa. With every invoice we send to you, we contribute a dollar to that cause. That means when you choose Mosquito Squad of Twin Cities, not only are you making your outdoor living spaces free of irritation from mosquitoes you are helping fight a global epidemic. Call us today and let us help you help yourself and help others… all with one phone call.