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Using an electron accelerator, the regional government-funded
Biological Pest Control Centre in Valencia sterilizes and
releases about 45,000 male mosquitoes every week so they can
pair with females - whose bite transmits diseases among humans -
and eventually reduce the overall mosquito population.
"It's a species that is becoming more common with climate change
... There is a favorable environment for its development for
longer periods of time throughout the year and its populations
are increasing all the time," said Vicente Dalmau of Valencia
region's health, agriculture and fisheries department.
The specimens for reproduction come from the region, and
scientists then use a machine to separate female pupae from the
males, before using radiation to sterilize the males.
Sterilization techniques have been used in other parts of the
world but the lab, using its experience with fruit flies, is
pioneering their use on tiger mosquitoes in Europe at a time of
growing concern over a rise in mosquito-born diseases such as
dengue, zika and chikungunya.
Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
shows an increase in cases imported from regions where dengue is
endemic, as well as an increasing number of local outbreaks of
West Nile virus and dengue in Europe.
The striped tiger mosquito, or Aedes albopictus, is spreading
north, east, and west in Europe, and now has self-sustaining
populations in 13 countries, including Spain.
The World Health Organization said last year that dengue rates
were rising globally, with reported cases since 2000 up
eightfold to 4.2 million in 2022, as a warmer climate is thought
to help the mosquitoes multiply faster.
(Reporting by Horaci Garcia and Eva Manez; Writing by Joan Faus
and Andrei Khalip; editing by Giles Elgood)
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