Mosquitoes kill about 760,000 people per year, according to the research platform Our World in Data, and are vectors for approximately 17% of infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. With global warming and longer summers, these insects are expanding their range, raising fears of future health crises.
Given this scenario, the question that arises is: would it be possible to eradicate deadly mosquitoes? And if so, what would the environmental impact be? According to biologist Hilary Ranson of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, it would not be necessary to eliminate all species. Of the approximately 3,500 known species, only about a hundred bite humans, and five of them are responsible for roughly 95% of infections. These five species, according to Ranson, “have evolved to be closely linked to humans,” feeding and reproducing near them. For her, their eradication would be “tolerable” given the damage they cause and would have no significant impact on the ecosystem, since genetically similar but less lethal mosquitoes “would quickly occupy that ecological niche.”
Entomologist Dan Peach of the University of Georgia broadly agrees but argues that there is insufficient information for a safe comparison with other options. “We don’t know enough about the ecology of most mosquito species to speak with certainty one way or the other,” he says. Peach notes that mosquitoes transport nutrients from their aquatic larval habitats to other areas, serve as food for insects, fish, and other animals, and also pollinate plants—a phenomenon still poorly understood.
Among the biotechnologies under study is “gene drive,” which modifies a chromosome to transmit a trait to all offspring. Scientists have already succeeded in the laboratory in eradicating populations of the malaria-transmitting mosquito Anopheles gambiae by rendering females sterile. The Target Malaria initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation, plans a field trial in 2030 in a country where the disease is endemic.
Another promising strategy is to infect the dengue vector mosquito Aedes aegypti with the Wolbachia bacterium, which blocks the circulation of the virus. A 2025 study showed that releasing infected mosquitoes in the Brazilian city of Niterói reduced dengue cases by 89%. Scott O’Neill, founder of the World Mosquito Program, highlighted that more than 16 million people in 15 countries are already protected by this technique, “with no negative consequences.”
In parallel, the “Zero Transmission” project aims to use gene drive to prevent female Anopheles gambiae from spreading malaria. A laboratory study published in Nature in late 2025 suggests scientists are close to the goal, with a field study planned for 2030. However, these projects require “political support or buy-in” from the countries where they are conducted, warns Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania. The military junta in Burkina Faso, for example, suspended tests with genetically modified mosquitoes after criticism from civil society and disinformation campaigns.
Hilary Ranson advocates for a “more global solution” against these infections, rather than a “miracle solution” generally funded by the Gates Foundation. This would include better access to diagnostics, treatments, and more effective vaccines for populations in affected countries. NGOs warn that cuts in international aid since 2025 threaten progress against most mosquito-borne diseases.