GoKawiilUS mosquito-borne diseases surge as gene-based control tech stalls in regulation
The US saw dengue cases jump to nearly 4,000 in 2024, a 360 percent rise over the prior decade's average, with local transmission in Florida, California, Texas and a public health emergency declared in Puerto Rico. Ten locally acquired malaria cases appeared in 2023, the first in twenty years, even as yellow fever-carrying mosquitoes remain present. Genetic engineering that makes male mosquitoes' offspring unable to survive, collapsing local populations, has existed since 2000 but has been stuck in regulatory limbo for roughly fifteen years.