Scientists from Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), and the University of California San Diego have engineered the first breed of genetically modified mosquitoes resistant to spreading all four types of the dengue virus. Dengue infects more than 390 million people every year. Typical symptoms include severe fever, headaches, and muscle aches, with severe forms of the disease leading to hemorrhage, shock and even death. CSIRO Senior Research Scientist Dr. Prasad Paradkar said the dengue virus was causing an epidemic in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, with large outbreaks currently occurring in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. "There is a pressing global demand for effective strategies to control the mosquitoes that spread the dengue virus, as there are currently no known treatments and the vaccine that is available is only partially effective," Dr Paradkar said. "In this study, we used recent advances in genetic engineering technologies to successfully genetically modify a mosquito, the Aedes aegypti (photo), with reduced ability to acquire and transmit the dengue virus. "This is the first engineered approach that targets all four dengue types, which is crucial for effective disease suppression. Mosquito-transmitted viruses are expected to climb over the coming years, which is why CSIRO is focused on developing new ways to help solve this global challenge." There have been previous attempts to synthetically engineer dengue-carrying mosquito populations to make them resistant to the virus, however these approaches had limited success due to their ability to only target one or two of the four major dengue types.Login Or Register To Read Full Story