DJIBOUTI – Genetically engineered mosquitoes have been released in the tiny East African country of Djibouti to combat a surge in malaria infections caused by an invasive vector. This initiative started on Thursday, comes as Djibouti, one of Africa’s smallest nations with just over a million residents, grapples with a dramatic increase in malaria cases, skyrocketing from just 27 in 2012 to more than 70,000 in recent years, according to the WHO.

The health body attributes the spike to the arrival of Anopheles stephensi, an invasive Asian mosquito species that transmit the deadly disease. The mosquito species has also been detected in Ethiopia and Somalia, Djibouti’s neighbors in the Horn of Africa, posing a significant regional threat.

Unlike most malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in Africa that breed in rural areas, Anopheles Stephensi thrives in urban environments, intensifying the public health challenge for predominantly urban Djibouti. “This mosquito poses a huge threat to our fight against malaria,” said Grey Frandsen, CEO of US-owned biotechnology firm Oxitec, which developed the gene-modified mosquitoes released in Djibouti. “Anopheles stephensi evade conventional tools, are resistant to insecticides and daytime-biters, reducing the efficacy of bed nets,” he said.

Djibouti health minister Ahmed Robleh Abdilleh told CNN that his nation was trying out the new technology developed by Oxitec and believes it could be a “game changer” in reducing malaria spread. “We are in the pilot phase, but we believe in the technology. We are sure it will be the game changer,” Abdilleh said.

Dubbed a method that “uses mosquitoes to fight mosquitoes”, Oxitec’s genetic technology targets female mosquitoes, which are predominantly responsible for malaria transmission. The technique involves releasing genetically engineered male mosquitoes into the wild, which then mate with females. The introduced gene prevents female offspring from surviving to adulthood, effectively reducing the population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Male mosquitoes do not bite and therefore cannot transmit malaria.

Frandsen said Oxitec’s genetic technology, which is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been effective in reducing other mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue fever in other parts of the world. (CNN)…[+]