Scientists Create Mosquitoes Immune to Dengue Virus
Newest Infectious Illness Information
THURSDAY, Jan. 12, 2017 (HealthDay Information) -- Scientists say they've created mosquitoes proof against the dengue virus, which could finally assist management the unfold of the illness in people.
The staff at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being in Baltimore genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to spice up their pure means to combat an infection by the virus.
Mosquitoes get contaminated after they feed on somebody who has the illness. Then they go dengue to wholesome individuals by biting them.
Annually, dengue sickens about 96 million individuals worldwide. The virus kills greater than 20,000 individuals, largely youngsters, the researchers mentioned.
"When you can substitute a pure inhabitants of dengue-transmitting mosquitoes with genetically modified ones which can be proof against virus, you'll be able to cease illness transmission. It is a first step towards that aim," mentioned examine chief George Dimopoulos, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Hopkins.
The genetic modifications considerably elevated the mosquitoes' resistance to dengue. However the modifications did not increase the mosquitoes' defenses towards Zika or chikungunya viruses.
"This discovering, though disappointing, teaches us one thing concerning the mosquito's immune system and the way it offers with totally different viruses. It is going to information us on find out how to make mosquitoes proof against a number of kinds of viruses," Dimopoulos mentioned in a Hopkins information launch.
He and his staff mentioned extra analysis and testing is required earlier than these dengue-resistant mosquitoes are launched into the wild, a course of they mentioned may take a decade or extra.
Forty p.c of the world's inhabitants reside in areas the place they're in danger for dengue an infection, the examine authors mentioned. The virus is most typical in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific islands. However dengue infections have been rising in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The analysis was revealed Jan. 12 within the journal PLOS Uncared for Tropical Illnesses.
-- Robert Preidt
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SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being, information launch, Jan. 12, 2017
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