Old mosquitoes usually spread disease, so scientists have figured out a way to make mosquitoes die younger and not live long enough to spread disease.
Scientists in Australia have bred several generations of mosquitoes with a bacterial parasite that shortens the life span of the mosquito from approximately 50 days down to 21 days.
The Australian scientists knew that one type of fruit fly is often infected with a strain of bacterial parasites that cuts their lifespan in half, so they infected the mosquito species that spreads the dengue fever with the bacterial parasite. The bacterial parasite worked the same in the mosquitoes as it did in fruit flies. A natural, non-poisonous, no-threat-to-humans way to kill the mosquitoes before they can spread an infectious disease.
When parasite infected mosquitoes breed, their offspring have the bacterial parasite, so the process of shortening the mosquito's lifespan theoretically is infinite.
The study as so far has been conducted in a laboratory, with the study to continue in the North Queensland mosquito facility to determine if the bacterial parasite can remove enough older, infectious mosquitoes to make it a useful endeavor.