Genetically modified mosquito could help fight Zika

Genetically modified mosquitoes that would help fight the Zika virus are getting urgent attention from US regulators as global health officials raise alarms about the pathogen’s spread.

The US Food and Drug Administration is in the final stages of reviewing an application from Intrexon’s Oxitec unit to conduct a field trial in the Florida Keys, Oxitec chief executive officer Hadyn Parry said in a phone interview.

Parry wasn’t able to provide further details on the timing of an FDA decision. Oxitec genetically modifies the males in a breed of mosquito known as Aedes aegypti — responsible for transmitting Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya and Yellow Fever — so that their offspring die young.

The Zika virus has been spreading “explosively” in South and Central America, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. Developing a vaccine could take years, drugmakers and health experts have cautioned.

“In the US, fortunately so far, there isn’t any transmission of the disease, but the question is how long will that situation last?” Parry said. “If it does come in, then you need to be able to act quickly.”

The WHO plans to convene a meeting today in Geneva to consider whether to declare the outbreak — which may be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes brain damage and abnormally small heads — as an international public health emergency. It says the pathogen could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas this year, based on models from the spread of dengue. In most people, the virus causes mild symptoms such as fever, rash and joint pain.

GENE MODIFICATION CONTROVERSY

Genetically modified animals have not been without controversy. The FDA said Friday that it would ban the US import of salmon made by Aqua Bounty Technologies that have genes added to make them grow faster.

“Mosquitoes are food for lots of animals; We would still want to see studies of when birds and bats and amphibians eat these genetically modified animals,” said Jaydee Hanson, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, an environmental advocacy organisation based in Washington.

“They’re introducing into the ecosystem some genetic constructs that have never been there before.”

Hanson also raised the possibility that other mosquito species could still carry the Zika virus. “It doesn’t solve the problem.” “You always get some people who say I don’t like genetic engineering because it’s a bad thing and we’re messing with nature,” Parry said.

Oxitec’s FDA application includes an environmental assessment that will be published for public comment.