Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
October 16, 2016
They’re male, they’re Aedes and they don’t bite.
Singapore will be releasing an army of bacteria-infected mosquitoes on Tuesday in a bid to suppress the Aedes aegypti mosquito population as the country battles with an outbreak of Zika.
The World Health Organisation warned last week that the mosquito-borne virus, already found in 70 countries including Singapore, will "highly likely" spread further in the Asia-Pacific region.
Thousands of male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria, which is harmless to humans, will be released regularly into streets, stairwells and open areas in three areas of Singapore as part of a six-month field study.
Their target is the female Aedes aegypti, the primary carrier of viruses such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
Research shows that when male mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia mate with female mosquitoes that do not have the bacteria, their eggs do not hatch.
"Multiple releases of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes over time will thus eventually lead to a reduced urban Aedes aegypti population," said Singapore’s National Environmental Agency when announcing the field study.
"If successful, this will complement our existing mosquito control efforts and eventually lead to the suppression of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and a possible curtailment of dengue or Zika transmission," Singapore’s minister for the environment and water resources, Masagos Zulkifli, told parliament in September.
READ MORE
They’re male, they’re Aedes and they don’t bite.
Singapore will be releasing an army of bacteria-infected mosquitoes on Tuesday in a bid to suppress the Aedes aegypti mosquito population as the country battles with an outbreak of Zika.
The World Health Organisation warned last week that the mosquito-borne virus, already found in 70 countries including Singapore, will "highly likely" spread further in the Asia-Pacific region.
Thousands of male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria, which is harmless to humans, will be released regularly into streets, stairwells and open areas in three areas of Singapore as part of a six-month field study.
Their target is the female Aedes aegypti, the primary carrier of viruses such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
Research shows that when male mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia mate with female mosquitoes that do not have the bacteria, their eggs do not hatch.
"Multiple releases of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes over time will thus eventually lead to a reduced urban Aedes aegypti population," said Singapore’s National Environmental Agency when announcing the field study.
"If successful, this will complement our existing mosquito control efforts and eventually lead to the suppression of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and a possible curtailment of dengue or Zika transmission," Singapore’s minister for the environment and water resources, Masagos Zulkifli, told parliament in September.
READ MORE