'I Visited a Mosquito Factory' from 'Human Footprint' on PBS for World Mosquito Day

Happy World Mosquito Day! For this year's celebration, I'm sharing I Visited a Mosquito Factory from Human Footprint on PBS Terra.

Could mosquitoes be the key to fighting deadly diseases?

In Medellín, Colombia, a mosquito factory breeds millions of mosquitoes every week… on purpose. Why? To stop the spread of dengue, a mosquito-borne disease infecting millions of people each year.

At the World Mosquito Program, scientists infect Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia, which blocks their ability to transmit viruses like dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Once released, these mosquitoes breed with wild populations and spread Wolbachia, reducing disease transmission between humans.

But not everyone is convinced. Wolbachia doesn’t work the same way in every context. The effects vary by mosquito species, environment, and virus. So –while promising– this approach isn’t without its own risks. Can biocontrol outsmart one of the deadliest animals on Earth, or are we venturing into ecological territory we don’t fully understand?

The mosquito factory should look familiar to long-time readers, as the third video in Using biotechnology to eliminate and control mosquitoes for an early celebration of World Mosquito Day explained it. I'm recycling my reaction from three years ago: "Using one parasite that doesn't affect humans to reduce the ability of an insect to spread a parasite harmful to humans — clever! It's also not forever in the same way genetic modification is. Fine by me."

As for Jason Rasgon's doubts and criticisms, I'm filing them under two of Commoner's Laws, "Everything is connected to everything else" and "There is no free lunch." Compared to genetically engineering the mosquitos, I think infecting them with Wolbachia is an example of a third law, "Nature knows best."

By the way, I've never mentioned cane toads on this blog before, but they're one of the organisms my students use for their answers to a question on the final exam for my organismal biology class. Since I just graded those exams yesterday, cane toads are fresh on my mind. That's a story my students tell me.

That's a wrap for today's biodiversity holiday. Stay tuned to see if I resume my Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow.