Taking The Sting Out Of A Difficult Shipping Problem For A Vaccine

A client needed to move malaria-infected mosquitoes across the United States as part of a clinical trial for a new malaria vaccine. Mosquitoes, particularly those infected with malaria, are considered highly infectious, so this unusual shipment presented numerous challenges. The mosquitoes had to be delivered quickly, under strict temperature control, to ensure that they arrived in peak condition with minimal loss or stress. Another challenge was the need to transport these mosquitoes by air: airlines tend to think twice about flying malaria-infected mosquitoes around the country. In order to ship them by air, regulatory clearances from several agencies were required.