No dengue fever, please. We’re British mosquitoes.

Nature (subscribers only) has announced that the plan to release sterile mosquitoes into the wild (mentioned months ago in this free Wired report) is going forward:

Nature:
Malaysia is looking to battle dengue fever by releasing mosquitoes that have been genetically engineered to be sterile. Although these efforts have stirred public concern, the country’s Academy of Sciences is likely to recommend the strategy to the government within a month.

Wired:
The [Oxford-based] company, Oxitec, said it can decimate mosquito populations by breeding genetically modified male mosquitoes, then releasing them to mate with wild females. Their offspring contain lethal genes that kill them young, before they can reproduce. Company officials told Wired News that their latest test results show that the genetically modified bugs can breed just as well as wild ones.

More on this unusual plan at Dartmouth University.