In the winter of 2016, a plane carrying an unusual shipment made its way from Italy to Africa. Inside were the eggs of 5,000 genetically modified mosquitoes.
Scientists are determined to eradicate the deadly disease that kills nearly three million people worldwide every year. Africa bears the brunt of the burden.
All 5,000 mosquito eggs carried a genetic modification that made the males sterile and the next generation sterile and so on. Now, after two years, scientists finally have a group of 10,000 sterile male mosquitoes that carry the genetic modification and are also fully adapted to the local conditions.
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