How Google's 32-million mosquito project could change California's battle against dengue

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Google took internet searches to the next level.Could it do the same for mosquito control?The Silicon Valley-based tech giant is seeking to release up to 64 million sterilized male mosquitoes in California and Florida over two years, according to a notice in the Federal Register.

It’s part of an ambitious effort to curb the diseases the insects spread.Google says it can harness technology to optimize a concept that’s been around for decades, but hasn’t been successfully scaled with mosquitoes to rein in disease.For example, the process often involves separating the insects by sex to isolate the males.

Currently, that’s done manually and can be time consuming.Google says it’s “developing new technologies that combine sensors, algorithms and novel engineering to take advantage of unique aspects of mosquito biology to quickly and accurately sort males from females.”The company also says it’s building software and monitoring tools to guide releases of sterile males, and its scientists and engineers are creating sensors, traps and software to decide which areas need to be treated and treated again.

Called Debug, the project targets Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are native to Africa but have infiltrated nearly half of California’s counties since first being detected in the state in 2013.Not only do they drive residents nuts with itchy bites, but they can carry a number of potentially serious diseases, including dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.

The plan is to infect males — which don’t bite — with a bacteria called Wolbachia, which effectively renders them sterile.They are then released to seek out wild females and mate.

Females will lay eggs but these won’t hatch, which experts say drives down the population over time.There are other methods to sterilize male mosquitoes.

Vector control districts serving Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino c...