Binod Pant didn't come up with the idea of releasing fungus-infected male mosquitoes into the wild as a way to decimate populations of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. But the Northeastern University mathematician did figure out just how effective the tactic could be. Pant met the entomologist behind the fungus idea—Met-Hybrid is a genetically modified fungus that is toxic only to mosquitoes—at a conference, and "I quickly figured out a mathematical model that we could use to try to explain this to public health people" in Burkina Faso, where the research had been done, Pant tells Northeastern Global News.
According to Pant's model, releasing about 10 fungus-infected male mosquitoes for every wild one every three days for six months could reduce the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Burkina Faso by 86%. Only female mosquitoes bite humans, so the release of infected males wouldn't increase the risk of malaria transmission to people. "We're trying to help the regulators understand this from a mathematical point of view," he says. "Now, with simulations in hand, hopefully this helps convince the local stakeholders that this method could work at scale in wild mosquito populations."
Malaria remains a major public health issue, especially in Africa, where the World Health Organization says 95% of the world's 597,000 malaria deaths occurred in 2023. Existing mosquito control methods, such as insecticide-treated bed nets, are losing their effectiveness. In contrast, Pant's study—published in Applied Mathematical Modelling—notes that mosquitoes have not developed resistance to pathogenic fungi like Met-Hybrid. Some scientists have proposed genetically modifying male mosquitoes themselves as an alternative, but that approach has met with resistance. Pant says the fungus approach is less likely to face similar pushback: "We're not touching the mosquito."
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