Maybe we should genetically alter bees and see how that works out first.

Yer lettin' bugs in, dammit.

That's pretty cool actually. I like science.

This is gonna be fun when the genetically modified mosquitos mate with the regular ones...

Wait until Jenny McCarthy hears about the vaccine mosquitoes.

I, for one, bow down to our gentically altered mosquito overlords....

Researchers altered the salivary glands of the Anopheles stephensi mosquito, dubbed a "flying vaccinator," so that it carried the Leishmania vaccine within its saliva.

Excuse me, but leishmaniasis is not malaria.

bite me

iamgoz: Maybe we should genetically alter bees and see how that works out first.

Nicholas Cage disapproves with this course of action.

Well, there goes the planet.

SwiftFox: Excuse me, but leishmaniasis is not malaria.


Isn't it, Swiftfox?

Isn't it?

what happens when these mosquitoes evolve and cause something even worse than malaria?

Modify an organism with a short life cycle that produces 100's of eggs per reproductive cycle with our truly primitive knowledge of genetics!

What could possibly go wrong?

There was a thread last weekend about scientists genetically engineering mosquitoes so that only the males were born without wings. So instead of the males flying out to impregnate broad mosquitoes, they crawl around with minimal success at reproduction. The female mosquitoes also have the genes, so whichever male they reproduce with has only a 50% chance of passing on his winged genes. They expect this could kill off malaria and Dengue fever spreading mosquitoes within a year.

/If not last week, the week before when the Hawaii tsunami was a big deal

This reminds me of a procedure I developed to cure pregnancy.

/Nobody believed me. Fools.

SwiftFox: Researchers altered the salivary glands of the Anopheles stephensi mosquito, dubbed a "flying vaccinator," so that it carried the Leishmania vaccine within its saliva.

Excuse me, but leishmaniasis is not malaria.

Leishmania is the parasite they've tried this approach (on mice so far) with. It is going to be tried out with Plasmodium antigens next. Hence the headline.

Seems like a better solution than bringing back DDT and coating the tropics in it again.

What future genetic engineering might cause

wouldn't this require the vaccine bugs to have an evolutionary advantage over malaria bugs?

More distressingly, if they had this evolutionary advantage, we just created a super-mosquito. Sure hope that mosquito doesn't mutate from super-vaccine-mosquito into suepr-disease-mosquito.

Brilliant idea! Now if we genetically alter hookers...

I read about this method of eradicating malaria many years ago, and I thought the idea must have died since I heard nothing of it since, and malaria was still one of the most deadly diseases in Africa.

Glad to know it's coming to fruition.

Flys, fleas and mosquitoes = insect bastards.

And mossies are bastards not just because of disease but the simple fact that they drink your blood and 'bite' you. Ever see a close up of how they do it?



Coonts.

GungFu: I read about this method of eradicating malaria many years ago, and I thought the idea must have died since I heard nothing of it since, and malaria was still one of the most deadly diseases in Africa.

Glad to know it's coming to fruition.

Flys, fleas and mosquitoes = insect bastards.

And mossies are bastards not just because of disease but the simple fact that they drink your blood and 'bite' you. Ever see a close up of how they do it?



Coonts.

I would make a wheal first then come back. I would'nt have to fish so long.

/Can I get a picture of a vampire, ex-wife or lawyer?

How about we genetically alter mosquitos to become extinct?

Where's your sickle-cell anemia now?

I dunno...these types of things sound like they would have a lot of unintended consequences.

Maybe it'll eliminate regular malaria but cause some kind of super-malaria to evolve. Then it'd be like FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU

Are people that dumb that they think a crash in the mosquito population would be good? Hint, there are creatures who eat mosquitoes. And creatures who eat those creatures. And so on...

Oh, yeah, the article wasn't about killing mosquitoes, just about having them deliver a vaccine. What about various animals whose population is held in check by malaria?

The point is that you can't fark with nature like that.

Rambino: wouldn't this require the vaccine bugs to have an evolutionary advantage over malaria bugs?

More distressingly, if they had this evolutionary advantage, we just created a super-mosquito. Sure hope that mosquito doesn't mutate from super-vaccine-mosquito into suepr-disease-mosquito.

Sounds like YOU would like the radio show 'Quirks and Quarks'

subaudio: What about various animals whose population is held in check by malaria?

People? I think we're past the stage of being "held in check".

ChuableVicodin: Modify an organism with a short life cycle that produces 100's of eggs per reproductive cycle with our truly primitive knowledge of genetics!

What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, with our tiny proto-brains and only stone tools, we've been genetically altering organisms like E. coli in labs for decades. Sure, they can reproduce in 20 to 30 minutes and we've done all sorts of whacky things with their genomes, but of course as soon as this principle was discovered a magical superbug emerged and consumed the world right? That was 1928. So this must all be some fevered dream in the dying mind of the last human or something.

subaudio: Are people that dumb that they think a crash in the mosquito population would be good? Hint, there are creatures who eat mosquitoes. And creatures who eat those creatures. And so on...

Oh, yeah, the article wasn't about killing mosquitoes, just about having them deliver a vaccine. What about various animals whose population is held in check by malaria?

The point is that you can't fark with nature like that.

Yeah, we should have never eradicated malaria from the southern US, or done that whole polio vaccine thing. And stopping smallpox was a veritable disaster. Just imagine how we'll be overrun by...some other vertebrate that supposedly suffers from malaria (I guess?) if we manage to stop the disease!

Can they maybe come up with a cure for malaria that DOESN'T involve me getting bit by mosquitoes?

/Does not mosquitoes.

I welcome our new zombie overlords

subaudio: Are people that dumb that they think a crash in the mosquito population would be good? Hint, there are creatures who eat mosquitoes. And creatures who eat those creatures. And so on...

Oh, yeah, the article wasn't about killing mosquitoes, just about having them deliver a vaccine. What about various animals whose population is held in check by malaria?

The point is that you can't fark with nature like that.

No, you are the very first person who ever considered this. Scientists are stupid, and we require brave men with vague generic reasoning to keep them in check.

While there is a food chain certainly, that doesn't mean that every single species is vital to the entire ecosystem.

I don't know of any predator that eats mosquitoes and no other bugs. I don't know of any predator that eats mosquitoes and is so vital to the ecosystem that it would crash everything by going down in number.

Please enlighten me.

At least when we screw with nature this time it will have an upside: no more farking mosquitoes.

Thenixon: ChuableVicodin: Modify an organism with a short life cycle that produces 100's of eggs per reproductive cycle with our truly primitive knowledge of genetics!

What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, with our tiny proto-brains and only stone tools, we've been genetically altering organisms like E. coli in labs for decades. Sure, they can reproduce in 20 to 30 minutes and we've done all sorts of whacky things with their genomes, but of course as soon as this principle was discovered a magical superbug emerged and consumed the world right? That was 1928. So this must all be some fevered dream in the dying mind of the last human or something.

subaudio: Are people that dumb that they think a crash in the mosquito population would be good? Hint, there are creatures who eat mosquitoes. And creatures who eat those creatures. And so on...

Oh, yeah, the article wasn't about killing mosquitoes, just about having them deliver a vaccine. What about various animals whose population is held in check by malaria?

The point is that you can't fark with nature like that.

Yeah, we should have never eradicated malaria from the southern US, or done that whole polio vaccine thing. And stopping smallpox was a veritable disaster. Just imagine how we'll be overrun by...some other vertebrate that supposedly suffers from malaria (I guess?) if we manage to stop the disease!

I like your response better. Can I change my answer?

Thenixon: ChuableVicodin: Modify an organism with a short life cycle that produces 100's of eggs per reproductive cycle with our truly primitive knowledge of genetics!

What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, with our tiny proto-brains and only stone tools, we've been genetically altering organisms like E. coli in labs for decades. Sure, they can reproduce in 20 to 30 minutes and we've done all sorts of whacky things with their genomes, but of course as soon as this principle was discovered a magical superbug emerged and consumed the world right? That was 1928. So this must all be some fevered dream in the dying mind of the last human or something.

Wow, you took that someplace wacky.

All I am saying is we haven't practiced this new science very long with our truly awesome brains. Maybe releasing a modified insect into the wild MIGHT have unintended consequences. Do I have to list any of hundreds of mankinds actions towards the environment that had less than perfect results? I can, if you would like.

...I bet you can too.

vacquitoes?

Smackledorfer- No, you are the very first person who ever considered this. Scientists are stupid, and we require brave men with vague generic reasoning to keep them in check.

Yeah we need to shut the fark up and let the experts do their job. Look how well those mongooses (mongeese?) they released in Hawai'i worked out. Or the lovebugs in Florida. And that whole thalidomide thing was just spiffy. The science that went into channelising Florida's rivers and turning Lake Okeechobee into a septic tank was awesome. Yay science! How about the over use of antibiotics that lead to antibiotic resistant strains like MRSA and super TB? Maybe the only stupid question isn't the one we don't ask but the one we ridicule as naive or ignorant.

Nobody's gonna bring this up? OK, I guess it's my job to jog down memory lane:

This reminds me of one of the plots of that early-mid 90s british Nickelodeon show "The Tomorrow People". I didn't much like the show all that much but definitely remember a plot by some biatch of a scientist gentically altering/cloning mosquitoes to turn them into some kind of ultimate predator.

Anyone else remember that?

How do you get the internet from your cave Chuablevic?

I mean, I'm sure you don't in any way contribute to anything that MIGHT have negative consequences to the environment am I right?

We should go back to no science at all, but then we might over-hunt deer or something and that would fark everything up anyways. We are a blight, get over it :D

cgraves67- vacquitoes?

Those are awesome with salsa verde and queso fundido!

Walker: Now we just need to alter bedbugs to bite themselves....or each other.

Bedbugs have institutionalized stab rape.

Thenixon: Yeah, we should have never eradicated malaria from the southern US, or done that whole polio vaccine thing. And stopping smallpox was a veritable disaster. Just imagine how we'll be overrun by...some other vertebrate that supposedly suffers from malaria (I guess?) if we manage to stop the disease!

There's a difference between giving people a vaccine in a doctor's office or clinic and releasing a genetically modified organism at the bottom of the food chain into the wild.

Don't worry. I'm sure Rachel Carson will come and screw this idea up somehow.