Promising bacteria

In a major breakthrough, Cuban scientists have developed bacteria that destroy the larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector causing dengue, fever. Dr.Raul de Armas Fernandez, chief of the anti-Vector Struggle Unit of Camaguey province, said they had developed bacteria Thuringiensis israelen sis-SH-14 bacillus-by fermentation. It is deposited in water containers, and when mosquitoes ingest it in the first and third phases of breeding, it causes a fatal reaction in its digestive tract, he said. It does not affect humans.

 

(The Hindu, 4^th   March,2007)