Would it be possible to wipe out certain species of insects and animals using a programmable retro virus?

I have seen two different sci-fi shows with this same idea, one was from and episode of Stargate SG-1 and the other was from an episode of Fringe. Anyway I started thinking what if it were possible to use these ideas not to wipe out people but to wipe out certain species of insects and animals, particularly the ones that spread diseases such as mosquitoes as they are currently spreading West Nile virus and Malaria. Then there is also one of the biggest problems facing parts of Canada and the United States that affects the forests which is the Pine Beetle, there have been many methods of trying to get rid of this beetle but nothing has worked well enough, so I thought why don't we just design a programmable retro virus programmed to seek out that specific type of DNA to kill off these kind of insects, and other insects or animals like rats that have become a major problem on the world.