In Spain, a laboratory is breeding and sterilising thousands of tiger mosquitoes to fight dengue fever and other diseases as climate change encourages the invasive species to spread across Europe.
Using an electron accelerator, the regional government-funded Biological Pest Control Centre in Valencia, eastern Spain, sterilises 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 favourable 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 sterilise the males.
Sterilisation 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.
In Peru, the health authorities have seen an alarming spread in dengue fever with 117 registered deaths so far this year, as against 33 last year. They attribute the increase to the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which is breeding in the coastal and northern parts of the country including the capital Lima.
Scientists say the mosquito has been adapting to climate change and is multiplying faster.
With Reuters inputs
