A new form of mosquito birth control is coming to the Washington, DC area

Every week this summer, a small army of 1,500 mosquitoes was released into Vinaya Frank’s garden. Their mission: find a companion in Frank’s garden.

The male mosquitoes, which do not bite humans, carried a natural bacteria called Wolbachia that can prevent mosquito eggs from hatching. Frank purchased the treatment from a small pest control company that, for the first time this summer, released 600,000 Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes on 25 properties in Maryland and Washington, DC.