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Malaysia releases lab mosquitoes to fight dengue

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-01-26 11:15
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -?Officials say Malaysia has released about 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes into a forest in the first experiment of its kind in Asia aimed at curbing dengue fever.

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The field test is meant to pave the way for the official use of genetically engineered Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes to mate with females and produce offspring with shorter lives, thus curtailing the population. Only female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes spread dengue fever, which killed 134 people in Malaysia last year.

The Malaysian government-run Institute for Medical Research said in a statement received Wednesday it released the non-biting sterile male lab mosquitoes in an uninhabited forest area in eastern Malaysia on December 21. The institute gave no indication of how the experiment has fared so far.