Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore have created genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are resistant to the dengue virus, according to new research published in PLOS Neglected Tropical diseases.
To create the genetically modified mosquitoes, researchers built on prior knowledge of the insect's natural immune response to dengue, which is too weak to completely fend off infection. To bolster this response, researchers manipulated a component of the mosquitoes' immune system, the JAK-STAT pathway, which controls the production of antiviral components. The modification resulted in mosquitoes resilient to infection. Most of the mosquitoes that did not display full immunity did display very low levels of dengue virus in their salivary glands, which is the site from which the virus is transmitted to humans.
"If you can replace a natural population of dengue-transmitting mosquitoes with genetically modified ones that are resistant to virus, you can stop disease transmission," said the study's leader George Dimopoulos, PhD, a professor in the department of molecular microbiology and immunology and a member of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. "This is a first step toward that goal."
Symptoms of the dengue virus include joint pain, fever, severe eye pain and rash among others. The virus sickens nearly 100 million people around the globe every year, killing more than 20,000. Most of those killed are children.
More articles on infection control:
Bloodstream infections most common HAI among children, European study finds
CDC: 6 tactics to help reduce health disparities among rural patients
White House issues new review process for pandemic pathogen studies