On Monday, American and British researchers revealed that genetically modified mosquitoes that cannot fly, might help in slowing the spread of dengue fever and could also end up becoming a harmless alternative to chemical insecticides.

The researchers genetically modified mosquitoes to produce females which were flightless, and stressed that spreading these "defective" mosquitoes could help curb the native, disease-spreading mosquitoes within a mere 6 to 9 months.

As of now, there is no vaccine for dengue fever, which is an epidemic in the tropics and is mainly prevalent across Asia and western Pacific. The disease, which ends up causing severe flu-like symptoms, can be a fatal illness. Dengue spreads through the bite of infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

"This could be the first in a new wave of products that might supplant insecticides", said researcher Anthony James of the University of California, Irvine.

"We stack the numbers in our favor by releasing a lot of these things", he added.

If successful, researchers are hopeful that the same method can be used to curb other similar illnesses, like malaria.