The technique used is known as “sterile insect”.
An essay of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Cuba with almost 1.3 million mosquitoes managed to reduce the population of the species by up to 90% Aedes aegypti, transmitter of diseases such as dengue and zika, reported this Tuesday the official press of the island.
This test, carried out in 2020, is part of some IAEA tests that have been applied in other nations, such as Brazil and Mexico, during 2021.
The technique used is known as “sterile insect” and consists of releasing male mosquitoes without the ability to reproduce so that they mate with wild females and thus reduce the birth rate of its population.
To sterilize them but maintain their “sexually competitive” status, the IAEA explains, the insects are irradiated with gamma rays or X-rays.
“This technology has been used successfully for more than 50 years throughout the world for the management of various insect pests of agricultural interest”, highlighted the newspaper Granma, official communication organ of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one in the country).
The study, which also had the cooperation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), was held between the months of April and August 2020, in the town of El Cano, southwest of Havana.
According to the United Nations (UN) agency,hour a new test will be done in a larger area, without specifying where and when.
In 2019, Cuba had already carried out a couple of experiments with the same technique.
The IAEA program studies are part of an effort to combat diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya, whose viruses are transmitted by female mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti. (I)
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