Mosquito Murder

Where I live, there's a yearly summer scare about mosquitoes spreading West Nile virus, a form of encephalitis.  This is understandable since, for one thing, mosquitoes around here do test positive for West Nile, and for another, they tend to grow to roughly six feet tall and carry bladed weapons.  Consequently, hot summer nights are often choked with insecticide sprayed from roving trucks that look suspiciously like the same vans where our kids buy ice cream during the day.  Anyway, Australian scientists have figured out a better way to stop mosquitoes from spreading disease.  They've successfully bred the species of mosquito that carry dengue fever and malaria to be born with a certain bacteria that significantly shortens their lifespan.  Since these diseases take a while to incubate before they can be spread by the mosquitoes, it's the older bugs that are the most dangerous.  And with this genetic mosquito plague, there will be no older bugs.  Genius.  Still, there's no mention of whether this will work in the mosquitoes that carry West Nile, so I guess I'm still going to have to barbecue in a full set of armor this year.  More details here.