Zika Virus and Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes

The Zika virus has been dominating the news lately and I am sure you may have already heard enough.  However there were a couple of topics I wanted to blog on this week.

1.  Some rumors are spreading on the internet (image that!) which actually say Genetically Modified (GM) mosquitoes caused the Zika Outbreak

2.  Secondly, should we be genetically modifying mosquitoes?  I have my own thoughts on this and wanted to pose a couple of questions before you answer that question for yourself. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito#/media/File:Aedes_aegypti.jpg

Genetically modified mosquitoes did not cause the outbreak!

We can start the story with a quick recap.  Zika is a virus spread by mosquito, specifically the Aedes aegypti mosquito.  The symptoms of the disease are quite mild.   You can develop a fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis that may last for 2-7 days.   In some cases someone with Zika virus may not even know they have it due to the mild symptoms. The virus was first identified in 1947, but it is now making headlines because of a very large outbreak in Brazil that started in 2015.  Since that outbreak, a large number of babies born with microcephaly has been on the rise.  Microcephaly is when the baby has a smaller than normal head due to incomplete brain development.  While an adult suffering from Zika is a non-issue, babies born with micorcephaly is a very large problemfor obvious reasons.  There is still no definitive science that has shown Zika is the cause of microcephaly, but the correlation is strong and the main assumption at this point.  Lots of research is going into this area and if you want more info on the ongoing science take a look at this scientific paper:  http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6503e2.htm

The second part of the story is that there is a company called Oxitec that has genetically modified mosquitoes that they hope will help reduce dengue disease.  The mosquitoes being targeted are Aedes aegypti since they are the specis that carry dengue, but also happen to the the same species of mosquito that carry the Zika virus.  That is good news because the Oxitec technology could help with Zika.   Oxitec conducted a trial with these mosquitoes in 2011 in one Brazilian city and the trail was an overwhelming success.   The local population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were reduced 90%.  

The technology behind Oxitec's GM mosquitoes is very exciting.  I encourage you to go to their site and read about it.  Here is an excerpt from the site http://www.oxitec.com/ that really goes into detail on how the mosquito are made:  Keep in mind only the non-biting males are engineered.

Finally the two stories come together when social media decided to spread a rumor just likes its own virus.  Headlines, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts were ablaze with false information that the reason we have the Zika outbreak in Brazil is because of these GM mosquitoes.  

The claims are a complete joke, but you probably saw the headlines somewhere and our brains are quick to say "Hey that might make sense."  We really need to look at where the claims are coming from and the science to debunk it, something that requires extra work.  The rumor started because a Reddit post showed the outbreak location in Brazil was close to the Oxitec GM trials.  That post ballooned into GM mosquitoes caused the outbreak.  When we look at the facts the locations pinpointed are actually far away from the outbreak.  The other big debunking fact is that the Brazilian Zika outbreak occurred in 2015 and can be traced to other outbreaks, while the Oxitec trials were four years earlier.   For the detailed facts check out this article:  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/alert-theres-a-dangerous-new-viral-outbreak-zika-conspiracy-theories

Even Snopes, a site that facts checks rumors commented on this one:  http://www.snopes.com/zika-virus-gmo-mosquitoes/

http://www.snopes.com/zika-virus-gmo-mosquitoes/

The rumors once again make GM technology seem like an evil thing.  In this case the critics are spreading fear and that fear can spook regulators.  Regulation is supposed be science based, but that is not always the case.  Every delay is causing more Zika virus to spread and if it is truly causing microcephaly, then every delay is also causing human hardship even though we have the tools to fight. 

Should we even genetically modify mosquitoes?

Let's start with  the fact that  manipulating insects is not a new thought.  There is another insect called the screwworm (don't eat before Googling that one).  The screwworm fly lays eggs in a wound and the screwworm larvae hatch and "drill" down in the wound and eat the flesh.  Cattle are affected the most, but they can affect other animals.   The screwworm can of course cause death and was major problem in the Americas.   To gross you out more, the worms can affect humans as well.  The economic impact from cattle losses was so large that a facility in Panama was built to constantly rear screwworms flys, irradiate them to sterility and release them by airplane.  There are so many sterile flies that any normal female only meets a non-sterile fly and the population stays low.  This operation never stops and employs about 400 people with a budget of 14 million per year (2014 data).  That is very little money and resources compared to the billions of dollars in losses to farmers if the fly was still around.   So manipulating an insect is not a brand new though or technology.  We have been doing it since the 50s when the screwworm fly program was first started.

I know this can be an ethical question for some.  How could we eradicate a bug even if it is a mosquito.  What are the environmental impacts?  Don't worry about eradicating all mosquitoes with this technology.    There are 3500 species of mosquitoes and only a very small number of that transit disease to humans.   Any technology is going to be very targeted and only used to help people. 

The fact remains that we have a tool to save lives and reduce disease.  Before you make your final judgement run these scenarios in your head.

1.   There are no Zika carying mosquitoes around me.  Should we release genetically modified mosquitoes?

Now ask this one:

2.  My daughter is pregnant and my neighbor was just diagnosed with Zika virus.   Should we release genetically modified mosquitoes?

For me the answer is pretty straight forward.  I value human life and the science has shown that the technology is safe.  I am heartbroken from the images of crying moms in Brazil and ready to put science to work to solve some of our world problems.  Don't let good science and the potential to save lives be delayed because of something you have not verified on social media or word of mouth from a friend.