World's largest mosquito factory hopes to prevent Zika
The Sun Yat-Sen University-Michigan University Joint Center of Vector Control for Tropical Disease is conducting field trials to prevent the Zika virus near Guangzhou, China. Considered the world’s largest mosquito factory, the laboratory raises millions of male mosquitoes for research that could prove key to the race to prevent the spread of Zika. The lab’s mosquitoes are infected with a strain of Wolbachia pipientis, a common bacterium shown to inhibit Zika and related viruses, including dengue fever. Researchers release the infected mosquitoes at nearby Shazai island to mate with wild females, who then inherit the Wolbachia bacterium, which prevents the proper fertilization of eggs. The results so far are hopeful: After a year of research and field trials on the island, the lab claims there is 99 percent suppression of the population of Aedes albopictus or Asia tiger mosquitoes, the type known to carry the Zika virus. Researchers believe that if their method proves successful, it could be applied on a wider scale to eradicate virus-carrying mosquitoes in Zika-affected areas around the world. The project is an international nonprofit collaboration led by Professor Xi Zhiyong, director of the Sun Yat-Sen University-Michigan University Joint Center of Vector Control for Tropical Disease with support from various levels of China’s government and other organizations. (Getty)
Photography by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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