Introducing genetically sterile mosquitoes into the wild shows promise as a way to help fight the dengue-carrying mosquito Aedes aegypti. The study was conducted by researchers from Oxitec, the company in Oxford, UK that developed the genetically sterile mosquito, and the Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) in Grand Cayman on the Cayman Islands.
The idea is that a large number of sterile males are bred and then released into the target environment where they seek out and mate with wild females, competing with wild males in the process.
When a wild female mates with a sterile male, she will have no offspring, thus reducing the population of the next generation.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection that causes a severe flu-like illness that sometimes develops into a lethal complication called dengue haemorrhagic fever.There is no specific treatment for dengue
The only way to prevent the disease from spreading is by controlling the mosquitoes that carry the virus. These methods currently centre on the use of insecticides, together with other practical ways of reducing mosquito breeding sites.
The study reports the results of an early stage of the the first open field trial to test an alternative way to control the Aedes aegypti mosquito and reduce its numbers. The trial used a genetically sterile mosquito strain whose sterility can be suppressed by feeding the insect with an antidote.
