Virology

Ecology

Mosquito control

Aedes

Dengue fever

Biochemistry

Environmental health

Wolbachia

Population

Virus

Biology

Gene

Host (biology)

Vector (molecular biology)

Malaria

Recombinant DNA

Aedes aegypti

Chikungunya

Aedes albopictus

Zika virus

Larva

Immunology

Medicine

Nature Reviews Microbiology

Aedes mosquito-transmitted diseases, such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya, are becoming major global health emergencies while old threats, such as yellow fever, are re-emerging. Traditional control methods, which have focused on reducing mosquito populations through the application of insecticides or preventing breeding through removal of larval habitat, are largely ineffective, as evidenced by the increasing global disease burden. Here, we review novel mosquito population reduction and population modification approaches with a focus on control methods based on the release of mosquitoes, including the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes and strategies to genetically modify the vector, that are currently under development and have the potential to contribute to a reversal of the current alarming disease trends. Flores and O’Neill review novel approaches to control mosquito-transmitted diseases, with a focus on control methods that are based on the release of mosquitoes, including the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, and strategies to genetically modify the vector.

Controlling vector-borne diseases by releasing modified mosquitoes