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In Florida Keys, Scientists Sterilize Mosquitoes In Fight Against Zika

Three times a week, in a 10-acre control area in the Florida Keys, biologists release male mosquitoes infected with the bacteria Wolbachia in the hopes they will mate with female mosquitoes and make them sterile. It's all part of a federally approved trial to test methods to combat Zika, a virus carried and transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Nancy Klingener ( @keywestnan) from Here & Now contributor WLRN reports.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

The Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes are shipped from a lab in Kentucky for release in the Keys. The Keys district plans to release 20,000 mosquitoes twice a week for a 12-week trial.
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The Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes are shipped from a lab in Kentucky for release in the Keys. The Keys district plans to release 20,000 mosquitoes twice a week for a 12-week trial.

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