Africa: Genetically Modified ‘Friendly’ Mosquitoes Released in Fight Against Malaria

Djibouti is feeling a new buzz – mosquitoes fighting other mosquitoes – in their fight against malaria

The city introduced a strain of non-biting male Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes to combat vector-borne diseases like malaria. Scientists used self-limiting genes that had previously worked with Aedes aegypti (the Zika virus, dengue, and other vectors), creating genetically modified (GMO) mosquitoes.

According to Oxitec, a biotech company, its Friendly™ female mosquitoes are genetically…