"Scientists working on malaria have found a way of genetically manipulating large populations of mosquitoes that could eventually dramatically reduce the spread of the deadly disease.

In a study in the journal Nature, researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Washington, Seattle found that after making specific genetic changes to a few mosquitoes and then allowing them to breed on, genetic alterations could be spread through large mosquito populations in a few generations.

This is the first successful proof-of-principle experiment of its kind, they said, and suggests the method may in future be used to spread genetic changes in wild mosquito populations to make them less able to transmit malaria."

Kate Kelland reports for Reuters April 21, 2011. [2]