Questão 12 - UNIFAE 2014

Brazil attempts to combat dengue with GM mosquitoes

April 21, 2014

The world’s largest ever swarm of genetically modified

mosquitoes has been released in a Brazilian town to combat

dengue – a leading cause of illness and fatality in several

Mercosur countries, except for Uruguay.

Genetically modified (GM) in a laboratory with a gene

designed to devastate the non-GM Aedes aegypti population

and reduce dengue’s spread, the newly hatched Aedes

aegypti mosquitoes called “Franken-skeeters” were released

in Jacobina, a farming town in Bahia state, according to local

press reports.

“We need to provide alternatives because the system we

have now in Brazil doesn’t work,” said Aldo Malavasi, president

of Moscamed, a Brazilian company that’s raising and testing

the GM mosquitoes in Jacobina. “We have thousands and

thousands of cases of dengue and that costs a lot for the

country. People are unable to work.”

Last year, Brazil reported 1.4 million cases of dengue,

which is endemic in three of the 12 host cities for this summer’s

World Cup. There is no vaccine. The most severe form of the

illness, dengue hemorrhagic fever, can lead to shock, coma

and death.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there

has been a 30-fold increase in dengue cases around the

globe during the last 50 years.

 

(http://en.mercopress.com)

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