Mosquito Researcher Admits She Has Begun to Respect the Enemy

Dr. Colette Fontaine, one of the world's leading researchers on Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito, has alarmed colleagues by admitting in a keynote address that after 22 years of studying the species, she has developed 'a grudging, deeply conflicted respect' for it. 'I want to be clear,' Dr. Fontaine said, pausing to survey an audience of 400 medical entomologists. 'I have devoted my career to controlling this species. It kills over 700,000 people per year through vector-borne diseases. I am not saying it is good.' She paused again. 'I am saying its proboscis is an engineering masterpiece.' The admission, delivered during the World Mosquito Congress in Singapore, prompted visible discomfort in the audience. Dr. Fontaine proceeded to describe the mosquito's feeding apparatus as 'a six-needle system of extraordinary precision,' its host-detection capabilities as 'superior to any sensor we have built,' and its reproductive strategy as 'ruthlessly efficient.' 'She said the word elegant,' whispered one attendee to another. 'About a mosquito. In a room full of people who have malaria grants.' Dr. Fontaine's colleagues have expressed concern. 'It starts with respect,' said Dr. Ari Dengue of the WHO. 'Then it's admiration. Then you find yourself leaving a window open.' Dr. Fontaine has clarified that her respect 'does not extend to allowing them to bite me' and that she remains 'fully committed to their control.' She has, however, changed her lab's screensaver to a high-resolution electron microscope image of Aedes aegypti's labrum. 'It's just so well-designed,' she said. 'I'm sorry. I can't help it.'