NewsBeat
France releases infertile Asian tiger mosquitoes to fight dengue threat
French cities are fighting the growing threat of diseases like dengue, chikungunya and Zika in mainland Europe by releasing millions of sterile male Asian tiger mosquitoes.
Terratis, a new company in the southern city of Montpellier, is breeding infertile males on an industrial scale as a long-term solution to the rapid spread of the disease-carrying insects.
The sterile males are bred at a factory in the southern city of Montpellier and then released in urban hot zones where the mosquitoes are most prevalent. After they have mated, females reproduce only empty eggs for the remainder of their lives.
“By using this technique, the mosquitoes will have no descendants and then, in theory, we can reduce the population with each generation,” said Clelia Oliva, the founder of Terratis.
“We are confident of being able to achieve a reduction of between 70 and 90 per cent in the towns in which we are releasing the sterile mosquitoes.”
The company, which started only two years ago, has experienced a dramatic surge in demand in the last few years as France tries to deal with the invasive species.
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