Google subsidiary to free 20mln mosquitoes in California to fight mosquitoes

World
Europe

Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. is planning to decrease the population of mosquitoes in California by releasing more mosquitoes.

Verily, the research organization of Alphabet, announced its "Debug Fresno" project on Friday to release about 20 million in-lab bacteria-infected mosquitoes in Fresno, California.

The anti-mosquito project was initially unveiled last October, with the aim of reducing the devastating global health impact that disease-carrying mosquitoes inflict on people around the world.

The Debug Fresno van used to release mosquitoes. /Verily Photo

The company is collaborating with Fresno County’s Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District (CMAD) to release a total of one million mosquitoes weekly over a 20-week period in two neighborhoods, each approximately 300 acres in size.

This is the largest such release so far in the US, Verily said in the announcement.

The tech provider behind this project is a biotech company named MosquitoMate. The mosquitoes to be released are infected with bacteria named Wolbachia, which has the ability of changing the reproductive behavior of the flies by making males sterile without genetic modification.

These males will roam freely in the environment and come across females, whose eggs they will not fertilize.

As a result, eggs of these females will not hatch which leads, in theory, to a decrease in the local population over time.

VCG Photo

The target of this project is Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can transmit diseases like Zika, dengue, and chikungunya.

Having first appeared in the central valley of California in 2013, Aedes aegypti has become widespread in Fresno County since then.

A Verily van started circulating Fresno and releasing flies on Friday. And there is one bonus, these male mosquitoes don't bite.

9750km