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POPSBill Gates Funded Dengue Fever Breakthrough
Found in up to 60 per cent of all insects, it is harmless to humans. But it has never been found naturally in dengue fever mosquitoes. The project struggled until the Gates donation arrived. A PhD student, Conor McMeniman, used super-fine needles to inject 10,000 mosquito embryos with the bacterium. "It was very technical and tedious work," Professor O'Neill said, adding that they had shown the bacterium could halve the adult mosquito's lifespan. Once an insect was infected, the bacterium would spread via its eggs to the next generation. A pilot release of infected mosquitoes could begin in Vietnam within three years. If no problems are discovered, a full-scale biological attack against the insects could be launched within five years. "We need to make sure the bacteria won't jump into any other species," Professor O'Neill said. He said Mr Gates was aware of the team's progress. "We are very lucky to have him spending his money the way he does."
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POPSA man made "plague" to treat a plague It's a new concept, that looks very promising. pre treating the disease, by infecting the carriers, mosquitos, with a virus which is harmless for humans. Very interesting!
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POPSEverything's Bigger in Texas Wow! My daughter lives in Texas and sent me this article. I wish I could see this web! Shades of "Arachnophobia"? But it must have been beautiful and now it is helping trap millions of mosquitos. We could use that here in Costa Rica. Hemorrhagic Dengue is very bad this year. But at least we have millions of spiders spinning webs.
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POPSHouston: Hot Town, Cool City Documentary about Houston titled Hot Town, Cool City. Lots of info about Houston at the source. It's not all mosquitos and big hair and guns.
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