The Zika virus, which was first discovered in the 1950s, has increased at an alarming rate and is currently wreaking havoc on the Americas, according to Mirror. Experts are pointing to the genetically modified mosquitoes engineered in 2012 that were released in Brazil in order to combat the spread of dengue fever and other diseases.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) tries to determine a cure for the virus, some believe that the source of the problem, genetically engineering mosquitoes, could also be the solution, according to CBS News. While drug companies are exploring vaccines that will need long-term development periods in order to create, the company Oxitec suggests that genetically modified mosquitoes are the solution and claims that it has had early success with the procedure in Brazil.
"We'll respond a lot faster than a vaccine that hasn't been invented yet," Hadyn Parry, Oxitec's CEO, told CBS MoneyWatch. "We do have a lot of faith in vaccines, but with this we need to take an approach that has a tight focus on mosquito control."
Oxitec's solution requires the use of genetically modified, sterile male mosquitoes. These mosquitoes then mate with virus-carrying females, which the company says has cut the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the disease by 90 percent in just six months during multiple trials.
The procedure has already been tested in Piracicaba, Brazil, and now Oxitec is expanding from the current area of 5,000 people to a population of 60,000. However, some are wary of the motivations behind the technique.
"Whether this situation in Brazil represents a real commercial opportunity or just a chance to validate the Oxitec technology on a grand scale is unclear," said Thomas Shrader, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.
Despite these uncertainties, many scientists are supporting the idea, according to CBC News.
"Many mosquito species are resistant to a number of pesticides we have in our toolbox," said entomologist Kateryn Rochon. "If we add genetic modification, we can reduce the amount of pesticides we use."
