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http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/158446|oddlyenough|04-07-2003::10:49|reuters.html

New Mousetrap Invented with Herpes Virus

Apr 7, 10:42 am ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia, regularly hit by the worst mouse plagues in the world, is claiming an international first with a genetically modified herpes virus to knock out population explosions of the small rodent.

The government-backed Co-operative Research Center (CRC) for Biological Control of Pest Animals has produced a genetically modified herpes virus that makes sexually prolific female mice infertile, by blocking sperm from entering their eggs.

"We know it works in a shoe box-level experimental setting. Now we want to try it in a field setting," CRC director Tony Peacock told Reuters on Monday.

The CRC is applying to Australia's watchdog on transgenic applications, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, for permission to trial the herpes virus in sample populations of mice, in rodent-proof pens.

The disease can only be spread by mouse-to-mouse contact, after inoculation of rodents with gene-spliced material containing the modified virus.

Rigorous testing to prove the virus is "species specific" -- which means that it cannot be transferred to other animals or humans -- will be required before expected full release in three years.

The main beneficiary of the virus would be Australian farmers, who grow one of the world's biggest grain export crops.

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