More than three billion people are at risk of contracting malaria, and researchers from the University of California, Irvine, say that a genetically modified mosquito bred inside their lab likely wouldn't be able to spread the disease.
In the journal PNAS, the scientists wrote that they put a "resistance" gene into the DNA of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, and when those mosquitoes mated, nearly 100 percent of the offspring through three generations inherited the same resistance, the BBC reports. If the technique works in the field, mosquitoes who bite people most likely would not be able to pass along the parasite that causes malaria.
Around the world, people use repellents, insecticides, and bed nets to keep mosquitoes at bay, but malaria still kills 580,000 people a year. The researchers say they are hopeful that the method would work in other mosquito species, and that these malaria-resistant insects could replace mosquitoes that spread the disease.
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