Submission + - Biowarfare on Malaria (discovery.com)
Runaway1956 writes: "Discovery.com has an article: For years scientists have known that mosquitoes, fruit flies and other insects infected with Wolbachia live about half as long as their uninfected counterparts. Scientists have also known that infected animals have dramatically lower transmission rates for a number of diseases. What scientists didn't know is why the Wolbachia-infected insects lived half as long, or why they were less likely to pass on diseases to humans. Sinkins and his colleagues have now answered a large part of both questions. The mosquitoes' immune system, already in overdrive because of the Wolbachia infection, destroyed as much as 100 percent of all the nematodes.Presumably malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and other diseases will be similarly destroyed, although more testing is required to definitively prove the effectiveness of this method, said Sinkins. For public health officials, the next trick is getting the Wolbachia into the mosquitoes more easily. Alternative link here."