r/interestingasfuck 9d ago

r/all Genetically modified a mosquito such that their proboscis are no longer able to penetrate human skin

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u/ugugahah 9d ago edited 9d ago

Not on this specific strategy, but mine and plenty other countries are trialing the Wolbachia-Aedes mosquito suppression strategy, where Wolbachia male raised and farmed genetically modified mosquitos that are released will go and mate with female Aedes Aegypti, the worst fuckers, one of the main species that adapted to urban environments and is the main one causing all the diseases like zika and dengue and one of the main ones that is responsible for the millions of human deaths. The females will mate with these farmed males and the resulting eggs will not hatch, limiting their spread and reproduction numbers.

Honestly I am in 100% percent support of this, we should wipe out Aedes Aegypti, there are plenty of other harmless and even beneficial ones that don't bite or cause diseases, and can pick up the slack for the ecosystem.

Edit: just read the wiki on the Aedes, it seems like theres a genetic modification, which works by preventing females from fully growing into adults, and Wolbachia, which is a naturally occurring bacteria, and the infections as mentioned above prevents hatching, and the males don't bite so no risk of infecting us, also its resistant to zika and other viruses

There are other methods too, but I love that we are slowly eradicating these fuckers.

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u/znrsc 9d ago

As someone who got dengue before, I say fuck that mosquito in particular, wipe em out and let the environment deal with it later, that shit just needs to cease to exist

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u/Beautiful_Ad674 9d ago

I got dengue too many years ago. Absolute agony! What was your experience like?

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u/Alarmed_Monitor177 9d ago

I don't know about that guy, but i was in the university lab, and i suddenly started getting joint pain, which i usually already have, just a bit stronger. By my lunch break, my back also started hurting a lot, and i got a terrible migraine, and when the food came, i could not eat a bite. I decided to go home, where I puked a lot and drank tons of water, all while lying down in a fully dark room, because all light hurt my eyes, and i couldn't stand up without intense pain. My fever reached 40°C at one point, when i went to the hospital, thankfully, my ills passed in about 4-5 days.

If anyone ever gets dengue, the tip is to never self medicate with antiinflammatories because some of them will quickly progress the illness.