Stopping the Spread of Avian Malaria

Hawai’i’s dwindling honeycreepers face a new, deadly threat: avian malaria. To stop the disease, conservationists use innovative techniques to suppress the population of the invasive mosquitoes that spread it.

This disease mitigation relies on an unlikely partnership with a bacteria called wolbachia. Every mosquito naturally carries wolbachia in its gut, but in order to produce offspring, it must find a mate with a matching wolbachia strain. Researchers in Hawai’i are releasing modified groups of male mosquitos with a foreign blend of wolbachia: they will mate with local mosquitos, but will not produce offspring, and over time will effectively reduce the amount of mosquitos in Hawai’i that spread avian malaria across the islands.