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Bacteria may slow the spread of Zika

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Zika virus – iStock
Zika virus – iStock

Researchers trying to spread a form of bacteria across mosquito populations in the hope that the microorganisms will interfere with the transmission of the Zika virus.

'Derailing' Zika transmission

British and American governments are teaming up with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK-based Wellcome Trust to expand field tests of the technique in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and the Antioquia Department in northwest Colombia, philanthropist Bill Gates said.

The tests revolve around the Wolbachia genus of bacteria, which has been shown to hamper the spread of viruses carried by mosquitoes.

The bacteria doesn't yet occur in Aedes aegypti, the tropical mosquitoes primarily responsible for spreading viruses like Zika, but researchers hope that by making it happen they'll derail the disease's transmission.

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