China creates male mosquitoes that sterilize female mosquitoes to fight Zika virus

Chinese scientists will pilot a type of mosquito infected with a bacterium that causes infertility in female Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus in an effort to control the epidemic.

Zika is currently the focus of global health attention, largely because of limited knowledge about the virus. Recently, Chinese scientists announced that they could prevent the spread of the disease thanks to a new type of mosquito.

Photo: ibtimes.com.

According to the Times of India, microbiology professors from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou have created male mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria. They do not bite humans and will pass the bacteria to female mosquitoes, causing infertility, thereby automatically reducing the population of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus. The Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes will be released in two to three areas in Guangdong in March on a pilot basis. Last year, a similar method successfully reduced the mosquito population by 90% and controlled dengue fever.

According to a report by the China Health and Family Planning Commission, the country detected two cases of Zika infection, of which one case has recovered and been discharged from hospital.

According to Vnexpress