Friendly™ Anopheles albimanus

Anopheles albimanus is a mosquito distributed across Meso-America, where it is an important vector of malaria. Female Anopheles albimanus mosquitoes blood-feed from people and other animals, with most biting occurring outside, when people are unprotected by bed nets and other measures that can be effective inside their homes. Malaria continues to threaten millions of people across the region, and effective vector control tools are sorely needed to support malaria prevention and eradication.

OUR SOLUTION

We are developing a Friendly™ Anopheles albimanus, powered by the same Friendly™ technology that has been proven against Aedes aegypti. Friendly™ mosquitoes carry a self-limiting gene that prevents female offspring from surviving, allowing for male-only production. After releases of Friendly™ males into the field, which find and mate with wild female mosquitoes, reduction of the target population is achieved as the female offspring of these encounters cannot survive. Male offspring survive, carrying a copy of the self-limiting gene; in turn, these males are able to pass on the self-limiting gene to half of their offspring, of which female carriers of the gene cannot survive. The self-limiting gene can thereby persist but declines over time, offering potentially multiple but still self-limiting generations of suppression for every Oxitec Friendly™ mosquito male released.

Development of this Friendly™ Anopheles albimanus is at an early stage, but in the future is anticipated to be an important solution to manage this malaria-transmitting mosquito.

Read more about how our solution works here.