British scientists say they may have found a way to stop the spread of malaria — create spermless mosquitoes.

Researchers at London's Imperial College say they found that female mosquitoes who mate with genetically altered male mosquitoes that produce no sperm lay unfertilized eggs that have no offspring.

The scientists say female mosquitoes mate only once during their lives and cannot tell the difference between males that cannot produce sperm and those who do.

They say genetically controlling mosquitoes could be the key to stopping malaria — a disease spread by mosquitoes that kills 800,000 people a year, primarily in Africa.