There is no vaccine against dengue fever carried by mosquitoes, but British scientists say they have just found a way to curb this disease yet. The team genetically modified the insects so that their descendants still die as larvae with no chance for reproduction thereby reducing the number of transmitters of infection.
Mosquitoes were altered in the laboratory so that its young people carry a lethal gene transfer island's media.
After the experiment are several British university professors, as well as companies "Oksitek", which works closely with Oxford.
For researchers, it is important as mosquitoes mutants managed to mate and survive competition by wild insects. When scientists in the earlier experiments sterilize insects, they are not even able to keep up with the intact mosquitoes making it still came to fertilization and recovery of the population.
- You just have to be a moderate number of females mated with males genetically modified to make this method failed, explains Luc Alfi, who teaches at Oxford and working for "Oksitek".
His associates were released genetically modified mosquitoes in parts of the Cayman Islands affected by Dengue fever. Revised insects accounted for 16 percent of male mosquitoes tested in the Caribbean area. At the end of the experiment, scientists have found a lethal gene in ten percent of the larvae, which, according to them, kind enough to suppress. Finally, the number of mosquitoes in a controlled area decreased by 80 percent.
Dengue fever is a virus that gets through mosquitoes bite. World Health Organization recorded 50 million cases per year of which 25,000 patients dies in tropical and subtropical parts of Asia, Australia and America. Patients complain of high fever, rash, headache and bone pain.
Proponents of biological engineering, said that this way of controlling the mosquito population as opposed to ecological use of insecticides. However, opponents warn that a modified organisms can no longer return to its natural state. They believe that the "Oksitek" experimented on his own and will operate in those countries where this area is not regulated.
Florida, which has from time to time is also affected by the infection, pending approval of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Expert of the institution Todd Shelley immediately after the publication of the results said that the research is significant, but the more one knows. For example, it will look like mosquito bites genetically modified? In addition, there are data that is 3.5 percent of the larvae survived, despite a lethal gene, so the question is what will they mean for the survival of this species.
- Frankenstein question remains, concluded Shelley.
No comments:
Post a Comment