The secret to preventing a catastrophic outbreak of the Zika virus could lie in a modest town in the state’s Central Valley.
Personnel with the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District have begun an experimental program in the City of Clovis, aimed at combating the Aedes Aegypti. The day-biting mosquito, which has recently been found congregating in parts of the city, can transmit a host of vector-borne illnesses including the dreaded Zika virus.
The method seems counterintuitive at first but, if successful, will prove truly ingenious. That’s because scientists are injecting hundreds of thousands of male mosquitos with a bacterium called Wolbachia and then releasing them into the air. The infected males—which do not bite or transmit disease—then mate with the females, rendering them infertile. The idea is simple: stop the breeding and you get ahead of any future outbreaks.
Health officials across the United States have been on edge since the first U.S. transmission of the Zika virus in Miami in July. Experts say it is only a matter of time before the virus hits California.
There have already been 170 cases of Zika in the Golden State, so far all contracted overseas. Two babies in Northern California have also been born with Microcephaly, the devastating birth defect associated with maternal Zika infection.
Read more about the mosquito abatement program in Clovis here.
Image Credit: Flickr User niaid, https://flic.kr/p/GhRvGn via (CC BY 2.0)