Every week this summer, a small army of 1,500 mosquitoes were let loose in Vinaya Frank’s backyard. Their mission: Find a female mate in Frank’s garden.The male mosquitoes, which don’t bite humans, were carrying a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia that can prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. Frank bought the treatment from a small pest control company that, for the first time this summer, released 600,000 Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes across 25 Maryland and D.C. properties.
