FRESNO –
A giant muggenwolk hums in the coming weeks through the streets of the Californian city of Fresno. That is not a pest but a good thing. The population can hope that by the arrival of the swarm in the future, the Aedes aegypti, which for the first time in 2013 appeared in the region, finally it is eradicated. That kind of mosquito can be dangerous viruses such as zika, dengue and chikungunya, transfer.
Verily Life Sciences, part of Alphabet Inc., is Friday started with the release of the first batch of a total of 20 million specially bred mosquitoes, all male specimens who are obviously not sticking. They are for the campaign ’Debug’ infected with a human-harmless Wolbachia bacteria, which ensures that they no seed can raise up. After mating, females produce the wild, the females eggs, which is never a larva will crawl.
The experts assume that there is certainly seven Wolbachia-mosquitoes are needed on each wild male, to the imminent danger of serious infectious diseases in check. The project is the largest so far in the US. In China, Indonesia and Brazil is already working with this form of combat.