Brazil opens world's largest mosquito factory to fight arbovirus infections

In the Brazilian state of Parana launched the world's largest mosquito biofactory specialising in the fight against insect vectors of arbovirus infections, including dengue fever, Zika virus and Chikungunya virus. This is reported by Band News, a partner of TV BRICS.

The peculiarity of the project lies in the use of innovative technology, in which insects are infected with Wolbachia bacterium harmless to humans. It does not allow viruses to develop inside the insect, and the mosquito ceases to be a vector of disease. It is noted that the method does not involve the use of chemicals and is not associated with gene modification.

As the publication specifies, the larvae are grown in sterile conditions under constant supervision of specialists. Once they reach the right size, experts manually separate males from females to ensure accurate selection. As a result, the harmless mosquitoes are released into the environment.

The factory is expected to produce 100 million eggs a week and more than 5 billion a year. The first batches of mosquitoes will be sent to six Brazilian cities as early as August.

The report says that the effectiveness of the method has already been proven in other countries as well as in Brazil itself. In Niteroi (Rio de Janeiro state), where the technology was launched about 10 years ago, the number of dengue fever cases has dropped by 70 per cent.

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