A Bill Gates-tied mosquito project is not responsible for recent US malaria cases

CLAIM: Rare malaria cases reported in Florida and Texas recently were caused by a disease-control initiative backed by Bill Gates that involved releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the U.S. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. One tweet reads: “Malaria has been detected in Florida and Texas, CONVENIENTLY two states where Bill Gates was experimenting with GMO mosquitoes.” “JOIN THE DOTS - Bill Gates Funded company Oxitec released billions of mosquitoes in Florida & Texas,” another tweet reads, suggesting a conspiracy is afoot to push a vaccine. “They are scientifically impossible.” Oxitec’s work in the U.S. has involved releasing genetically modified, male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Florida Keys with the purpose of combating insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and the Zika virus. She added that Oxitec only releases male Aedes mosquitoes — but it’s female mosquitoes that bite people for blood and “thus only the female mosquitoes transmit malaria parasites.” Lawrence Reeves, an entomologist at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, part of the University of Florida, similarly noted that “most mosquito species are not vectors for any human pathogen.” He agreed that the mosquito releases from Oxitec “have nothing at all to do with malaria, and it’s absurd to claim otherwise.” It’s also worth noting that the four malaria cases in Florida were reported in Sarasota County, not near the Florida Keys, where the Oxitec project is located, said Chad Huff, a spokesperson for the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District.