Date: 11-09-2017
Insider Louisville
According to a report in Nature, the Environmental Protection Agency told the Lexington (Ky.) – based startup MosquitoMate that “it could release the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis into the environment as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus).”
Translation: The company can release lab-grown, bacteria-infected, so-called killer mosquitoes in 20 states and Washington, D.C., Nature reported. As described by MosquitoMate, “Our ZAP male mosquitoes (non-biting!) are released prior to the mosquito season to begin the suppression of the mosquito breeding season.”
According to Quartz, “When bacteria-infected males mate with uninfected females, the females produce eggs that don’t hatch. In addition, infected mosquitoes are less likely to spread disease.”
