Dengue virus has effectively been wiped out in Townsville, Australia, following the release of anti-dengue mosquitoes in 2014.

The Queensland city has recorded zero cases of locally-transmitted dengue in the four years since the modified mosquitoes were released, compared to 54 cases in the previous four years.

The trial represents the first successful use of modified mosquitoes to eliminate a mosquito-borne virus across a whole city.

Scott O'Neill at Monash University and his colleagues infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with naturally-occurring Wolbachia bacteria, which hamper the mosquitoes from …