Specially bred mosquitoes that they want to use as biological weapons will be able to transmit diseases such as yellow fever, dengue fever, West Nile, Chikungunya and Karelian fever to humans. Pavel Volchkov, a virologist and head of the MIPT genomic engineering laboratory, told socialbites.ca about this.
Despite the ban on biological weapons, the United States has patented a drone designed to breed dangerously diseased mosquitoes and land them at a designated spot.
According to the expert, the existence of “fighting mosquitoes” is quite possible, because they are already an excellent biological weapon, and people can use them for their own purposes.
“Nature has already created a biological weapon, it’s called a mosquito. He already knows how to transmit malaria, a deadly disease. In addition, with the help of mosquitoes you can transmit another feat of nature – viruses, ”Volchkov explained.
The scientist believes that using mosquitoes to disperse viruses is more effective than spraying them on human settlements.
“It is inconvenient to spray viruses using the drone described in the patent. The micro-droplets that land on the ground will dry up and the virus will no longer be effective. For infection, it must be inhaled exactly as micro-droplets. Therefore, it makes sense to transmit a viral agent with the help of mosquitoes. It would be possible to spray them over a city inhabited by a large number of people. In addition, it is possible to provide a mosquito with a virus that works specifically on humans, ”says Volchkov.
Learn more about the use of mosquitoes as a biological weapon and the development of American scientists. material “socialbites.ca”.
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