LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — They still bite, but new research shows lab-grown mosquitoes are fighting dangerous dengue fever that they normally would spread. Dengue infections appear to be dropping fast in communities in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil and Australia that are buzzing with the specially bred mosquitoes, an international research team reported Thursday. It's the first evidence from large-scale field trials that mosquitoes are less likely to spread dengue and similar viruses when they also carry a type of bacteria that's common in insects and harmless to people. Rather than using pesticides to wipe out bugs, "this is really about transforming the mosquito," said Cameron Simmons of the nonprofit World Mosquito Program that is conducting the research.
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