Quick Take | Tech transfer with a bite
If recent medical advances reported from Brazil and Singapore hold true, turning mosquitoes on other mosquitoes could be an extremely effective way of fighting the scourges of malaria and dengue. Male mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria end up fathering sterile eggs when they mate with female mosquitoes because of an induced cytoplasmic incompatibility. A recent study in Singapore resulted in an almost three-fourths drop in mosquito population in the study area. Last year, Brazil inaugurated the largest biofactory to breed such mosquitoes in Curitiba. India, which has some of the most alarming incidences of dengue and chikungunya in the world, must collaborate to bring these bio-fighters to the country. That's a ‘technology transfer’ we need sooner than most others.