Scientists Seek To Fight Zika With Weaponized Fungus

Scientists have found a new way to kill Aedes Aegypti, carrier of Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever and the Zika virus, in an innovative way — through a weaponized fungus.

A Wired.com report stated the fungus Metarhizium brunneum attacks mosquitoes in two ways. One variety of the fungus spore, the conidium, is airborne and it attacks adult mosquitoes. The blastospore works more efficiently underwater; "that's the one that attacks the larvae, and it's nasty," the report read.

However, until just recently, scientists couldn't explain why blastospores were "so much more virulent that the conidium."

The report chalks up the effectiveness to "the blastospore's two-pronged attack."

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"The fungus adheres to and penetrates the cuticle and also germinates and breaches the gut following ingestion of the blastospores," Wired said, quoting biologist Tariq Butt, one of the study's authors. "So the multiple entry routes facilitate rapid death."

"And because the blastospore has drilled a hole in the cuticle, water can seep in. That's a big problem for an insect that relies on its exoskeleton to shield itself from the big, nasty world," Wired surmised.

"More remarkable still, the fungus is somehow able to dodge the mosquito's immune response without shutting it down."