Stopping Zika Through Genetic Modification.

• Position: MOSQUITOES

In 2016, the World Health Organization called the Zika virus epidemic a "public health emergency of international concern" due to the virus causing birth defects for pregnant women in addition to neurological problems. Since then, researchers have wrestled with different strategies for controlling the spread of Zika virus, which gets transmitted to humans from female mosquito bites.

One approach, which was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, will release millions of genetically modified mosquitoes into the Florida Keys this year and next. These "suicide mosquitoes" are genetically altered to produce female offspring that die before emerging into adults and therefore cannot bite humans and spread disease.

However, wiping out future generations of mosquitoes may cause environmental complications, such as potentially disrupting food chains. A study at the University of Missouri offers another option: genetically modifying mosquitoes to be resistant to Zika virus altogether.

Alexander Franz, associate professor in the College of Veterinary...