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Medicine Science

A Google Plan To Wipe Out Mosquitoes Appears to Be Working (bloomberg.com) 88

Posted by msmash from the prognosis dept.
An experimental program led by Google parent Alphabet to wipe out disease-causing mosquitoes succeeded in nearly eliminating them from three test sites in California's Central Valley. From a report: Stamping out illness caused by mosquitoes is one of Alphabet unit Verily's most ambitious public-health projects. The effort appears to be paying off, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on Monday. Verily is also running coronavirus triage and testing in parts of California. Bradley White, the lead scientist on the Debug initiative, said mosquito-suppression is even more important during the pandemic, so that outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever don't further overwhelm hospitals.

Since 2017, the company has released millions of lab-bred Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes into several Fresno County neighborhoods during mosquito season. The insects are bred in Verily labs to be infected with a common bacterium called Wolbachia. When these male mosquitoes mate with females in the wild, the offspring never hatch. In results of the trial published on Monday, Verily revealed that throughout the peak of the 2018 mosquito season, from July to October, Wolbachia-infected males successfully suppressed more than 93% of the female mosquito population at field test sites. Only female mosquitoes typically bite.
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A Google Plan To Wipe Out Mosquitoes Appears to Be Working More

A Google Plan To Wipe Out Mosquitoes Appears to Be Working

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  • No mosquitoes sounds like a total win. What could possibly go wrong?

    • One Type (Score:5, Informative)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @12:18PM (#59913754)

      None of one type of mosquito - the species that usually carries malaria. The other 3,000 species will be fine.

      • Re:One Type (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 06, 2020 @01:15PM (#59913990)
        Aedes aegypti does not spread Malaria. It spreads Yellow Fever, Zika, Dengue, EEE, and a few other things. (And Malaria has been eradicated in the US anyway.)

        Anopheles (Anopheles Gambiae, Anopheles Darlingi, and Anopheles Funestus) is the Malaria spreading mosquito.

        Culex (Culex pipiens, Culex tarsalis, and Culex quinquefasciatus) is the West Nile virus spreader.

        AFAIK Verily is not targeting Anopheles or Culex.

        Other than that, yeah, the other 3K mosquito species will be fine.
        • I wouldn't mind never receiving a mosquito bite ever again. I believe if we wiped them out the ecosystems would find a new balance. No one can predict what would happen if we killed them off. Maybe frogs decrease and that effect cascades, maybe not. Mosquitoes wouldn't be the first species to go extinct, wouldn't be the last; by our hand or nature's. There's only one way to find out what happens.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AvitarX ( 172628 )
            I suspect that mosquitoes niche would be turning mammal blood into bird food.

            Not sure how important that is though.

        • If the current situation about COVID-19 should have taught you anything, it's that there's no such thing as "xyz has been eradicated in the USA".

          One solution would be to make planes illegal, since the long transport times of boats would serve as an automatic quarantine period. It would also decrease pollution.

          • The shipping industry is known for their very flexible interpretation of environmental law though.

            Can't dump your toxic fumes into the atmosphere? What a shame. Fix it by building half a scrubber and dumping the toxins directly into the ocean instead.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Dantoo ( 176555 )

            I'm laughing my backside off at this comment. Just pause for a moment. Consider the role that boats have played in spreading the virus.

            The great majority of Australia's infections have come from two sources - cruise ships and American tourists. To save they country they were/are loading those arrivals on planes to get rid of them (after curing or burying the obvious ones.)

            • Somehow, I was only thinking europe-america cruise lines. Even then, I don't even know how long those particular cruises take anyway.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by ebvwfbw ( 864834 )

            One thing smallpox should teach you is there is such a thing as xyz being eradicated in the USA. We've done it.

            All my classmates had that vaccination. I still remember it. Hurt like hell. They used the jet gun on me.

      • Balancing the Risk (Score:3, Insightful)

        by fezzzz ( 1774514 )
        Every time malaria mosquitoes are discussed, the topic of gene drives come up. Then the question, what if things go wrong? Malaria kills more than 400 000 people per year. I feel that anyone standing in the way of gene drives should be personally held responsible for some of these deaths. What's the odds that things can turn out worse?

        • What's a gene drive? Is it similar to a warp drive?

          • It's genetic hackery - a way to engineer a gene to self-replicate within a genome, so it achieves 100% inheritence and spreads through an entire population over the course of generations even if the gene is detrimental. The theory works - used properly, it could be used to wipe out entire species at little cost.

            Want to completely exterminate malaria? Gene drive should do it, by utterly destroying the vector. One strike, wipe out target mosquito species in a couple of decades.

            No-one has actually done it, bec

      • Re:One Type (Score:5, Informative)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @01:34PM (#59914072)

        None of one type of mosquito - the species that usually carries malaria. The other 3,000 species will be fine.

        Not only that, but Aedes (yellow fever, dengue, zika) and Anopheles (malaria) are invasive species in many areas. Aedes are not native to California. Before the arrival of humans, many Polynesian Islands had no mosquitoes.

        Vector-borne diseases require the victim to be bitten twice: Once to cause the infection, once to pass it on.

        So the transmission rate is proportional to the square of the density of the vector. If Google wipes out 90% of the skeeters, it prevents 99% of the disease transmissions.

        That is enough for R0 to drop below 1.0. If we can keep R0 significantly below 1.0 for multiple years, the diseases will fade away and can eventually be exterminated.

    • Re: Sounds perfect (Score:2, Informative)

      by goqng ( 6744776 )

      Except for our ecology has important reasons for having mosquitoes:

      https://thewire.in/environment... [thewire.in]

      • Re: Sounds perfect (Score:5, Informative)

        by Gilgaron ( 575091 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @12:30PM (#59913824)
        This is species specific, the technique would eliminate the (invasive) Aedes aegypti and leave native species alone, unlike spraying.

        • It's gotta be said...

          Aedes aegypti Lives Matter!

          • Aedes aegypti Lives Matter!

            You don't need to worry about Aedes aegypti.. They are tough little suckers. AA can breed in an upturned bottle cap. It is just a matter of time before they develop resistance to the Wolbachia bacteria. It is not realistic to expect AA to be "wiped out". The goal is just to knock down their population density enough so that they are no longer effective disease vectors.

            The bacteria should just be one part of that effort. We should also be testing and quarantining victims. Bed net use should be encourage

            • What about moats? Moats are the only thing that keeps black knights at bay.

            • You're correct, but removing standing water is against federal law in many places. They.re called wetlands, and filling or draining them can get people in heaps of trouble.

              • You're correct, but removing standing water is against federal law in many places. They.re called wetlands

                Aedes are not native to the testing area and do not compete well with native species in wilderness areas, including wetlands. They specialize in colonizing human-occupied areas, especially small pockets of water. A forgotten flowerpot, a clogged gutter, a tire swing, a soda can, etc.

                Much progress can be made by cleaning up litter. Abandoned water bottles and soda cans toss in a pile or abandoned by the side of the road are ideal breeding opportunities for Aedes mosquitoes.

      • Except for our ecology has important reasons for having mosquitoes:

        True, but there are thousands of species, this is only one of them. There's still be plenty of others to go around.

    • Re:Sounds perfect (Score:4, Informative)

      by stikves ( 127823 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @12:32PM (#59913832) Homepage

      These are foreign mosquitoes, invading the local ecosystem. The local ones should not be affected.

      Mosquito larvae are an importance source in the food chain, so we do not want to eliminate them all (even though they are real pests).

    • Super mosquitoes that will end humanity as we know it.

    • No Dino DNA.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by plopez ( 54068 )

      Wiping out pollinators? Not a problem! We just move to Mars!

  • This is yet another example of the sterile male technique [wikipedia.org] used many times before for insect control.

    • Seems the ideal solution would be males who can only have male children who carry on the trait of only being able to have male children.

    • This is yet another example of the sterile male technique used many times before for insect control.

      Interestingly, it's also been used on /. for population control.

      • This is yet another example of the sterile male technique used many times before for insect control.

        Interestingly, it's also been used on /. for population control.

        You, sir, deserve a mod.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      This is yet another example of the sterile male technique used many times before for insect control.

      Based on personal experience, it may be even more effective if it turns them into nerds.

  • I once got talking to a group of missionaries who were in Ecuador opening up wells for the locals to have clean water, I was pleased the kids got clean water but wonder if it just means that people push further into the jungle until they are starving and dying from shitty water and then wait for more missionaries to come along.

    • The solution is to give people access to contraceptives in addition to clean water.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shotgun ( 30919 )

        I believe education and relief from stark poverty has done quite a bit more to reduce population than passing out chemicals to women. Part of that reduction in stark poverty is providing clean drinking water.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kqs ( 1038910 )

          You need both. Educated self-sufficient women want fewer children; chemicals let them implement that desire. Either alone is not sufficient.

          But yeah, clean drinking water is an important first step.

  • Ditto for homo sapiens sapiens.

  • and viruses instead of mosqutioes and bacteria.

  • that I am opposed to this, and any plan whose goal is to kill off mosquitoes.

    • Let the record show that you have just proven yourself to suffer from a horrible lack of reading comprehension.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gtall ( 79522 )

      Thank you, I have it duly noted in the Official Intertubes Archive. You will be contacted shortly to verify your opinion.

  • Shouldn't we be testing this in marshlands or something? CA barely has mosquitos as it is.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hjf ( 703092 )

      the only reason this is "news" it's because is remotely related to google.

      this technique has been used successfully many times. it's nothing new. the only reason it isn't widespread is naysayers scared of "destroying the food chain", even though sudies have confrmed this is very safe.

    • There are a lot of mosquitoes in CA. That you aren't affected by them indicates the level of spraying in the urban areas. In addition the central valley (where the testing took place) is prime agricultural area with extensive irrigation and plenty of standing water.

  • I spent many years working with Mosquito Control. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hey! ( 33014 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @01:22PM (#59914026) Homepage Journal

    I don't doubt that they achieved a considerable reduction, but that's a long, long, long way from eradication, as people who achieved this same kind of result sixty years ago with DDT discovered.

    That's because a single female can lay between 500-1000 eggs over the course of a month. Each batch of 100-200 eggs can remain dormant for over a year, but in favorable conditions can reach sexual maturity in a little over two weeks. Over the course of, say, two months, a single gravid female can theoretically generate trillions of descendants.

    Now conditions are probably not always ideal -- especially in a place like California that can often be dry. But the practical experience has repeatedly shown that mosquito populations can rebound very quickly. They can never be eradicated from areas where they occur naturally.

    That doesn't mean this isn't worth doing, especially for species like Ae aegypti that carry diseases like Yellow Fever. But to maintain that 93% reduction, you'll need to keep doing this indefinitely.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kackle ( 910159 )

      Over the course of, say, two months, a single gravid female can theoretically generate trillions of descendants.

      Slut.

  • Only female mosquitoes typically bite.

    Tell me about it.

  • How dare will treat animals so badly...
  • What could possibly go wrong? I wonder which crucial food chain this will collapse.

  • Perhaps more important (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday April 06, 2020 @05:09PM (#59914874) Journal

    How's the mosquitoes' plan to wipe out Google going?

  • but I would be more impressed if this worked during summer.

    It was snowing last week, that tends to deter them...

  • First off, it is a known that many animals and birds feed on mosquitoes, including these.
    But, even more importantly, is that virus are almost certainly the entire backbone of evolution. And what is one of the best ways to move virus between various species ? Mosquitoes.
    It is one thing to lower their population, but it will probably be very damaging to Earth's biota if we really wipe these out.

    • First off, it is a known that many animals and birds feed on mosquitoes, including these.

      But, even more importantly, is that virus are almost certainly the entire backbone of evolution. And what is one of the best ways to move virus between various species ? Mosquitoes.

      It is one thing to lower their population, but it will probably be very damaging to Earth's biota if we really wipe these out.

      You may not have noticed, but there's a pandemic on at the moment, spread from one species to another (us).
      Not the best time to be encouraging that kind of thing....

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