Continental mosquito with ‘vector’ potential found breeding in UK after 60 year absence

A species of mosquito not seen in the UK since 1945 has been discovered breeding in the country. Populations of the mosquito, found across mainland Europe and known only by its Latin name Culex modestus, were recorded at sites in the marshes of north Kent and south Essex in 2010 and 2011.

The discovery was made by postgraduate student Nick Golding, and the mosquito was definitively identified by colleague Stefanie Schäfer of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH). The mosquito was also concurrently found by medical entomologists at the Health Protection Agency as part of their nationwide mosquito surveillance programme. Details of a collaborative study between CEH and the HPA are published today (9 February 2012) in the journal Parasites and Vectors.

Culex modestus is suspected to transmit West Nile virus (WNV) to humans during sporadic epidemics in southern Europe. However, to date, WNV has never been found in the UK so there is no known current risk to humans living here. The virus primarily infects birds, but when the pathogen is transmitted from birds to humans by the bite of a mosquito it can very occasionally cause severe disease, although it usually causes only asymptomatic or mild infections.

Lead author Nick Golding said, “It is unclear how long Culex modestus has been breeding in the UK – the new specimens were found during field studies in 2010 and 2011 – but it seems likely that the species has arrived fairly recently. A handful of individuals were collected on the south coast in the 1940s, but didn’t appear to be an established population. Since those records the species hasn’t been seen again in the UK, until now.”

Dr Miles Nunn from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who is Nick Golding’s doctoral supervisor, said, “Not all mosquito species can transmit West Nile virus to people. In continental Europe, Culex modestus is able to because the virus can reproduce inside the mosquito and the mosquito feeds on both humans and on birds which are the main host of West Nile virus. Once the mosquito’s salivary glands become infected the virus is secreted into the host (man or bird) in saliva when the mosquito feeds. However, in the UK the mosquitoes' biting habits and ability to transmit West Nile virus have yet to be investigated.”

Nick Golding, Dr Nunn and colleagues at CEH, the HPA and Oxford University are continuing to work together to establish just how widespread these mosquitoes are and whether there is any risk to human health. They have been using satellite imagery in order to identify habitats where the mosquito might be breeding, before looking for it on the ground.

Nick is also studying Culex modestus and other mosquitoes to determine the specific habitat within the marshes in which they breed and what effect wetland management has on this habitat.

Dr Nunn added, “Culex modestus is difficult to distinguish from related mosquitoes that are less likely to transmit viruses to humans. Its discovery highlights the importance of expert long-term biological recording of UK wildlife by the scientific community.”

Additional information

A Q&A feature provides more background information on both Culex modestus and West Nile Virus

CEH issued a press release for this story.

The full paper "West Nile virus vector Culex modestus established in southern England" by Nick Golding, Miles A Nunn, Jolyon M Medlock, Bethan V Purse, Alexander G C Vaux and Stefanie M Schäfer is published in Parasites and Vectors.

Related CEH links

Staff page and research interests of Dr Miles Nunn

Staff page and research interests of Dr Bethan Purse

CEH Biodiversity Objective 2.2: The impact of invasive species, pathogens and vectors of disease

 http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/vector-potential-mosquito-UK_2012_11.html

Mosquitoes 'disappearing' in some parts of Africa

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are disappearing in some parts of Africa, but scientists are unsure as to why.
Figures indicate controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries.

But in Malaria Journal, researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls.

They are uncertain if mosquitoes are being eradicated or whether they will return with renewed vigour.

Data from countries such as Tanzania, Eritrea, Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia all indicate that the incidence of malaria is dropping fast.

Researchers believe this is due to effective implementation of control programmes, especially the deployment of bed nets treated with insecticide.

But a team of Danish and Tanzanian scientists say this is not the whole story. For more than 10 years they have been collecting and counting the number of mosquitoes caught in thousands of traps in Tanzania.

In 2004 they caught over 5,000 insects. In 2009 that had dropped to just 14.

More importantly, these collections took place in villages that weren't using bed nets.

'Chaotic rainfall'
One possibility for the reduction in numbers is climate change. Patterns of rainfall in these years were more chaotic in these regions of Tanzania and often fell outside the rainy season. The scientists say this may have disturbed the natural cycle of mosquito development.

But the lead author of the study, Professor Dan Meyrowitsch from the University of Copenhagen, says that he is not convinced that it is just the changing climate.

"It could be partly due to this chaotic rainfall, but personally I don't think it can explain such a dramatic decline in mosquitoes, to the extent we can say that the malaria mosquitoes are almost eradicated in these communities.

"What we should consider is that there may be a disease among the mosquitoes, a fungi or a virus, or they're may have been some environmental changes in the communities that have resulted in a drop in the number of mosquitoes"

The research team also found anecdotal evidence that their discovery was not an isolated case.

Prof Meyrowitsch added: "Other scientists are saying they can't test their drugs because there are no children left with malaria.

"They observed this in communities with no large interventions against malaria or mosquitoes. It may be the same scenario that the specific mosquitoes that carry malaria are declining very fast now"

The researchers are unsure if mosquitoes will return to these regions. If they do, one particular cause for concern is the young people who have not been exposed to malaria over the past five or six years since the mosquitoes began to decline.

"If the mosquito population starts coming up again" says Professor Meyrowitsch "and my own assumption is that it will, it is most likely we will have an epidemic of malaria with a higher level of disease and mortality especially amongst these children who have not been exposed."

By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14685612

Spermless mosquitoes hold promise to stop malaria

Scientists have created spermless mosquitoes in an effort to curb the spread of malaria.


Experts say that this is an important first step toward releasing sterile males into the wild to reduce the size of mosquito populations.

Malaria kills around one million people worldwide every year, and in Africa alone, accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths.

The work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Insect sterilisation isn't new: scientists have attempted to control the sleeping sickness-carrying tsetse fly by exposing them to radiation to render them sterile.

A similar approach has been successfully used against the potatoes weevil in Japan and the tropical screwworm that attacks cattle.

Frail fly
However, exposing mosquitoes to radiation has tended to leave male mosquitoes frail, and unable to compete in the frenzied mating aerobatics that Anopheles gambiae - the world's most efficient malaria vector - enjoys.

Now scientists have developed an alternative route to mosquito sterility.

Entomologist Flaminia Catteruccia from Imperial College London enlisted the help of her graduate student Janis Thailayil in the search for how to make male mosquitoes sterile but leave them otherwise unharmed.

Mr Thailayil injected 10,000 mosquito embryos with tiny fragments of RNA designed to turn off a gene - called zpg - that is essential for normal sperm development.

After months of laborious work, the researchers created around 100 spermless mosquitoes, and showed that females were just as willing to mate with these males as with fertile ones.

Dr Catteruccia explains that female mosquitoes mate only once in their lives. If scientists can trick them into thinking that they have successfully mated, then they will continue to lay their eggs without knowing that they have not been fertilised.

"You [could] in principle release large numbers of sterile males over many generations… and eventually all the females will have mated with the sterile males and…you can really reduce the number of mosquitoes," explained Dr Catteruccia.

This would gradually reduce the number of hatching mosquitoes. And hopefully help eradicate what many consider to be the single most dangerous insect species for mankind.

However, Dr Catterucci warns that this is only a proof of principle. The method her team used to create the spermless males would be far too labour-intensive to flood wild populations with enough spermless males to have any effect on their numbers.

However, knowing that females don't notice whether they are receiving sperm or not is still an important step, she said.


By Jennifer Carpenter

Science reporter, BBC News


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14422440

1 June 2011 Last updated at 18:06

Smelly chemicals confuse mosquitoes

By James Gallagher Health reporter, BBC News

Female mosquitoes follow a trail of carbon dioxide

Chemicals which interfere with a mosquito's ability to sniff out humans have been developed by US researchers, according to research in Nature.

It is hoped they could be used to develop the next generation of mosquito traps and repellents.

A UK expert said the discovery could be a "major step forward" if the chemicals were safe and cheap.

Female mosquitoes use carbon dioxide in people's exhaled breath to find their next meal.

They can detect minute changes in the concentration of the gas and track it back to a human breath.

This knowledge is already used in carbon dioxide traps, but requires dry ice or gas cylinders - which mean they are rarely used in developing countries.

Researchers have been looking for chemicals which can disrupt or confuse a mosquito's carbon dioxide sense.

Deception

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, tested smelly chemicals on three species of mosquito: Anopheles gambiae, which spreads malaria; Culex quinquefasciatus, which spreads filariasis and West Nile virus; and Aedes aegypti which spreads dengue and yellow fever.

Between them these insects are thought to spread disease to half a billion people each year and cause millions of deaths.

The researchers identified three groups of chemicals, which disrupt a mosquito's carbon dioxide receptors.

One mimicked carbon dioxide and could be used as bait in insect traps, another prevented the mosquito from detecting carbon dioxide and the last group tricked the mosquito's brain into thinking it was surrounded by huge quantities of the gas - so it could not pick which way to go.

Anopheles gambiae is responsible for the vast majority of malaria cases in Africa

Professor Anandasankar Ray, from the University of California, Riverside, said: "These chemicals offer powerful advantages as potential tools for reducing mosquito-human contact, and can lead to the development of new generations of insect repellents and lures.

"The identification of such odour molecules, which can work even at low concentrations, and are therefore economical, could be enormously effective in compromising the ability of mosquitoes to seek humans, thus helping control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases."

Carbon dioxide is not the only way mosquitoes can find their dinner however, as the smell of human sweat and skin can also be used.

Dr James Logan, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "Whilst this is an exciting study, the authors are yet to show that the chemicals are capable of protecting a human being from being bitten.

"Although carbon dioxide is an important cue for mosquitoes, we know that mosquitoes respond differently to a trap releasing carbon dioxide than to a real human being, which releases a complex mixture of many attractive chemicals, heat, visual cues and moisture.

"The key question is - do the 'response modifying odours' actually protect a human being?"

The chemicals also need to be used at high concentrations, which could be hazardous to human health. The researchers say their next step is to develop safer chemicals.

Dr Nikolai Windbichler, from Imperial College London, said work needed to be done to ensure they were safe and could be produced at low cost.

He added: "These compounds have novel and desirable properties because they can confuse the mosquitoes' host seeking behaviour even when the substances are no longer present or the mosquitoes have left the area of application.

"This, if realised, could be a major step forward and could protect large groups of people or large areas, something that is not currently feasible with existing repellents."

Mark Stopfer, from the US National Institutes of Health, said the study offered "a promising line of defence."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13614781

New mosquito type raises concern

3 February 2011 Last updated at 19:02
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Scientists have identified a new type of mosquito.

It is a subgroup of Anopheles gambiae, the insect species responsible for most of the malaria transmission in Africa.

Researchers tell Science magazine that this new mosquito appears to be very susceptible to the parasite that causes the disease - which raises concern.

The type may have evaded classification until now because it rests away from human dwellings where most scientific collections tend to be made.

Dr Michelle Riehle, from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, and colleagues made their discovery in Burkina Faso, where they gathered mosquitoes from ponds and puddles near villages over a period of four years.

When they examined these insects in the lab, they found many to be genetically distinct from any A. gambiae insects previously recorded.

The team grew generations of the unique subtype in the lab to assess their susceptibility to the malaria parasite and this revealed them to be especially vulnerable, more so than indoor-resting insect types.

But Pasteur team-member Dr Ken Vernick cautioned that these mosquitoes' significance for malaria transmission had yet to be established.

"We are in a zone where we need to do some footwork in the field to identify a means to capture the wild adults of the outdoor-resting sub-group," he told BBC News.

"Then we can test them and measure their level of infection with malaria, and then we can put a number on how much - if any - of the actual malaria transmission this outdoor-resting subgroup is responsible for."

The researchers report that the new subgroup could be quite a recent development in mosquito evolution and urge further investigation to understand better the consequences for malaria control.

They also emphasise the need for more diverse collection strategies. The subtype is likely to have been missed, they say, because of the widespread practice of collecting mosquitoes for study inside houses. In one sense this has made sense - after biting, mosquitoes need to rest up and if they do this inside dwellings, the confined area will make them an easier target for trapping. However, the method is also likely to introduce a bias into the populations under study.

Commenting on the study, Dr Gareth Lycett, a malaria researcher from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the UK, said it was an interesting advance that might have important implications for tackling malaria.

"To control malaria in an area you need to know what mosquitoes are passing on the disease in that district, and to do that you need sampling methods that record all significant disease vectors," he told BBC News.

"You need to determine what they feed on, when and where, and whether they are infectious. And where non-house-resting mosquitoes are contributing to disease transmission, devise effective control methods that will complement bed-net usage and house spraying.

"A recent 12m-euro multinational project (AvecNET), funded by the European Union, and led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has the specific aims of doing just this."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than 200 million cases of malaria worldwide each year, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, most of them in Africa.

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. The parasites are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12352565
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)

GM mosquito wild release takes campaigners by surprise

Experts in the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month — a year after their initial release.


The trial of the OX513A strain of the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito, developed by UK biotechnology company Oxitec, was carried out on Grand Cayman island by the Cayman Islands' Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) in 2009, followed by a bigger release between May and October this year. Together they represent the first known release of GM mosquitoes anywhere in the world.

Unpublished results of the trials, showing that the GM male mosquitoes competed with wild males, were presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting in the United States, last week (4 November).

The male GM mosquitoes mate with normal females to produce larvae that die unless the antibiotic tetracycline is present. In tetracycline's absence an enzyme accumulates to a toxic level, killing the larvae. The developers hope the strategy could be combined with other mosquito control methods to reduce transmission in dengue-prone areas.

Ricarda Steinbrecher, a geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus — a UK-based non-profit research organisation — expressed surprise that the trials had occurred, saying that they had not been mentioned at the fifth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety — which addresses international safety issues relating to GM organisms — in Nagoya, Japan, last month.

She described the lack of publicity surrounding the trials as "worrying, both from the scientific perspective as well as public participation perspective".

Steinbrecher said that until a full, long-term environmental assessment of the Cayman trials has been carried out, the recently announced Malaysian trials of the same strain should not go ahead.

Just over three million male mosquitoes were released in the Cayman Islands this year. Oxitec sent the GM eggs to the islands, which are a British overseas territory, and they were hatched and grown at the MRCU.

Angela Harris, senior researcher at MRCU, told SciDev.Net that her unit consulted with several Cayman Islands' government departments beforehand.

"Currently there is a draft biosafety bill, and despite the fact that this bill has not yet been implemented we carried out a risk analysis and review of the trial as if this bill was already in place."

She said that there had been a newspaper article and public consultation within the Cayman Islands.

Luke Alphey, research director at Oxitec, said an extensive risk analysis was carried out and "we did lots of engagement work in Cayman, but no special effort either to spread the word internationally or not to [do so]". On the sidelines of a press conference in London today he said that he had not wanted to publicise the trial until the results were known. He did not know what the Nagoya meeting was, he said. An environmental assessment of the trial site is now being carried out.


Alphey said that the experiment complied with the Cartagena Protocol because prior informed consent was obtained from the Cayman government.

John Marshall, of Imperial College London, who has argued that the Cartagena Protocol needs overhauling to deal with the special demands of GM insects, said: "Because the mosquitoes aren't going to spread to other countries, it's a national issue. I think Oxitec has done everything they needed to do."

The wild mosquito population in a 16-hectare urban area is believed to have been reduced by about 80 per cent. The next step for Oxitec, said Alphey, is to test the strategy in conjunction with other mosquito control methods.

Kathy Jo Wetter, a researcher with the ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Cooperation), a Canada-based organisation that promotes the socially responsible development of technologies, said ETC was unaware of the release.

"Oxitec considers its trial 'successful' just days after the experiment has ended," she said. "But unintended impacts on the environment cannot be known, and Oxitec's unproven technology could make things worse in the long term. There is no possibility of recall if something goes wrong — who takes responsibility in that case?"

"Extreme techno-fixes require extreme precaution," she added.

Alphey said they are waiting for approval for the release of GM mosquitoes in Brazil, Panama and the United States.


Katherine Nightingale

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/gm-mosquito-wild-release-takes-campaigners-by-surprise.html

GM mosquito wild release takes campaigners by surprise

Experts in the safety of genetically modified (GM) organisms have expressed concern over the release of GM mosquitoes into the wild on the Cayman Islands, which was publicised internationally only last month — a year after their initial release.


The trial of the OX513A strain of the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito, developed by UK biotechnology company Oxitec, was carried out on Grand Cayman island by the Cayman Islands' Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) in 2009, followed by a bigger release between May and October this year. Together they represent the first known release of GM mosquitoes anywhere in the world.

Unpublished results of the trials, showing that the GM male mosquitoes competed with wild males, were presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting in the United States, last week (4 November).

The male GM mosquitoes mate with normal females to produce larvae that die unless the antibiotic tetracycline is present. In tetracycline's absence an enzyme accumulates to a toxic level, killing the larvae. The developers hope the strategy could be combined with other mosquito control methods to reduce transmission in dengue-prone areas.

Ricarda Steinbrecher, a geneticist and co-director of EcoNexus — a UK-based non-profit research organisation — expressed surprise that the trials had occurred, saying that they had not been mentioned at the fifth meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety — which addresses international safety issues relating to GM organisms — in Nagoya, Japan, last month.

She described the lack of publicity surrounding the trials as "worrying, both from the scientific perspective as well as public participation perspective".

Steinbrecher said that until a full, long-term environmental assessment of the Cayman trials has been carried out, the recently announced Malaysian trials of the same strain should not go ahead.

Just over three million male mosquitoes were released in the Cayman Islands this year. Oxitec sent the GM eggs to the islands, which are a British overseas territory, and they were hatched and grown at the MRCU.

Angela Harris, senior researcher at MRCU, told SciDev.Net that her unit consulted with several Cayman Islands' government departments beforehand.

"Currently there is a draft biosafety bill, and despite the fact that this bill has not yet been implemented we carried out a risk analysis and review of the trial as if this bill was already in place."

She said that there had been a newspaper article and public consultation within the Cayman Islands.

Luke Alphey, research director at Oxitec, said an extensive risk analysis was carried out and "we did lots of engagement work in Cayman, but no special effort either to spread the word internationally or not to [do so]". On the sidelines of a press conference in London today he said that he had not wanted to publicise the trial until the results were known. He did not know what the Nagoya meeting was, he said. An environmental assessment of the trial site is now being carried out.


Alphey said that the experiment complied with the Cartagena Protocol because prior informed consent was obtained from the Cayman government.

John Marshall, of Imperial College London, who has argued that the Cartagena Protocol needs overhauling to deal with the special demands of GM insects, said: "Because the mosquitoes aren't going to spread to other countries, it's a national issue. I think Oxitec has done everything they needed to do."

The wild mosquito population in a 16-hectare urban area is believed to have been reduced by about 80 per cent. The next step for Oxitec, said Alphey, is to test the strategy in conjunction with other mosquito control methods.

Kathy Jo Wetter, a researcher with the ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Cooperation), a Canada-based organisation that promotes the socially responsible development of technologies, said ETC was unaware of the release.

"Oxitec considers its trial 'successful' just days after the experiment has ended," she said. "But unintended impacts on the environment cannot be known, and Oxitec's unproven technology could make things worse in the long term. There is no possibility of recall if something goes wrong — who takes responsibility in that case?"

"Extreme techno-fixes require extreme precaution," she added.

Alphey said they are waiting for approval for the release of GM mosquitoes in Brazil, Panama and the United States.


Katherine Nightingale

http://www.scidev.net/en/news/gm-mosquito-wild-release-takes-campaigners-by-surprise.html

Woman catches four million mosquitoes

Ted Thornhill - 3rd August, 2010

A Taiwanese woman waged war on the nation’s mosquito population and caught four million of the nasty bloodsuckers in just one month (cue applause from Cheryl Cole).

The insects bug the people of Taiwan so much that trap-makers Imbictus International organised a competition to see who could catch the most.

Huang Yu-yen, from southern Taiwan’s Yunlin county, won hands down, seeing off 72 rivals. She rounded-up 1.5kg of mosquitos, more than double that of her nearest challenger, and scooped the $3,000 prize.

Imbictus sent an application to Guinness World Records asking that Huang be recognised as the world's leading killer of the pest.

Mosquitoes have been a major public health hazard in Taiwan, especially as carriers of malaria until its official eradication on the island in 1965.

They are still responsible for the spread of dengue fever.

The valiant efforts of Huang Yu-yen are bound to be welcomed by X Factor judge Cheryl Cole.

She was struck down with malaria for almost two months after being bitten by a mosquito in Tanzania, while holidaying with US dancer Derek Hough.

She is now back on her feet and enjoying a sunshine break in LA.

Bless.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/836963-woman-catches-four-million-mosquitoes

Fly Guys

A genetically engineered mosquito that vaccinates as it bites has been developed by Japanese scientists. A protein in its saliva protects against potentially fatal Leishmania, which is spread by sand flies. Although there is no known vaccine for malaria, which kills around 2million people a year, it is hoped it can eventually applied to that too.

http://e-edition.metroherald.ie/2010/03/19/ - p8.

Dengue fever solution

TAMED MOZZIES: The days of mosquitos spreading dengue fever could soon be numbered. A new strain of the insect where the females are unable to fly is being developed by scientists at Oxford and in Irvine, California. Dengue fever, which has severe flu-like symptons, is spread by female mosquiots only and affects up to 100million people a year.

http://e-edition.metroherald.ie/2010/02/23/ - p10.

Jellyfish a cure for mozzies

NICK CLARK
March 19, 2009 12:32pm

THERE could be fewer mozzies in Launceston thanks to a freshwater jellyfish brought on the feet of birds from China.

Scientists believe the tiny jellyfish found in Launceston's Lake Trevallyn were brought from China as tiny larvae on birds' feet.

The jellyfish, which is the size of a 10-cent coin, was first officially recorded in the state last week.

Rather than being an unwanted or disastrous import like the cane toad, scientists believe the species could be beneficial.

Launceston's Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery natural science curator Lisa-ann Gershwin said the discovery was important.

"Craspedacusta sowerbyi has a voracious appetite for mosquito larvae," Dr Gerschwin said.

"Researchers are currently studying whether it could be used as a natural bio-control, particularly in regions where mosquitoes carry dangerous pathogens such as malaria, dengue fever and Ross River fever," she said.

Dr Gerschwin said the specimens found would be available for researchers and would be on display at the museum at Inveresk soon.

Michael Attard, scientific and technical officer with Natural Resource Management North's Tamar and Esk Estuary program, found several of the jellyfish during routine water testing at Lake Trevallyn.

"I came across around 30 of them near Blackstone Heights and although they are quite hard to catch, I eventually got a few into a water-testing bottle to take to the experts," he said.

It is believed sightings have been made before. Dr Gershwin would like to hear about sightings in other inland waterways.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/03/19/62135_todays-news.html

Star Wars scientists use laser gun to kill mosquitoes in fight against malaria

Scientists who worked the Star Wars anti-missile programme in the United States are building a ray-gun than can kill mosquitoes in a bid to tackle the scourge of malaria.

By Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 3:44PM GMT 16 Mar 2009

Experts behind the 1980s missile shield idea have helped to develop a laser that locks onto and kills airborne insects.

It is thought the device, dubbed the 'Weapon of Mosquito Destruction' (WMD), could be used against mosquitoes, which kill almost one million people around the world every year by spreading malaria.

The research in Seattle, reported in the Wall Street Journal, has been funded by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates through his charitable foundation.

The WMD laser works by detecting the audio frequency created by the beating of mosquito wings. A computer triggers the laser beam which burns the wings off the mosquito and kills it.

Among those working on the research project are astrophysicists Dr Lowell Wood and Dr Jordin Kare who both worked on the original Star Wars plan to shield America from nuclear attack.

Dr Kare said: "We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the cold war. Now we're just trying to make a dent in a war that's actually gone on a lot longer and claimed a lot more lives."

The laser missile defence system was proposed in the 1980s to knock Soviet missiles from the skies with beams. It was greeted with enthusiasm by President Ronald Reagan but mocked as "Star Wars" by Senator Edward Kennedy and never got off the ground.

The idea of using the same mechanism to kill insects was down to Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft executive who now runs an innovation firm call Intellectual Ventures. The firm was tasked by Mr Gates with exploring new ways of combating malaria and Dr. Wood suggested using lasers. Work on the WMD began last year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/4995428/Star-Wars-scientists-use-laser-gun-to-kill-mosquitoes-in-fight-against-malaria.html