Public-health officials are doing everything in their power (and budget) to prevent infectious diseases like Zika, yellow fever, and dengue from spreading. 

But the bugs that transmit those diseases, specifically the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, aren't entirely easy to control.

So as an alternative to insecticides or other mosquito-killing tactics, a company called Oxitec has genetically engineered mosquitoes that aim to cut down on the natural mosquito population.

So what could possibly go wrong with unleashing a whole bunch of genetically engineered mosquitoes on a population?