bdmetronews desk ॥ Genetically modified mosquitoes could help Brazil combat the Zika virus, tests results released Tuesday by a British biotech firm suggest.
The South American nation has been scrambling to contain the spread of Zika, which has been linked to a recent surge in birth defects including microcephaly, a rare condition in which newborns have smaller than normal heads and their brains do not develop properly.
In a statement Tuesday, the Oxitec biotech firm said tests that began in April 2015 have shown that the release of genetically modified sterile male mosquitoes succeeded in reducing a variety of disease-transmitting mosquito larvae by 82 percent by year’s end in a neighborhood of the city of Piracicaba.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito also transmits dengue fever and chikungunya. The genetically modified mosquitoes themselves don’t spread disease because only the females bite. Piracicaba’s city health department confirmed the tests and results.
The Brazilian army has been helping in efforts to control the mosquito population by eliminating standing water.
Most of the 3,530 babies the Health Ministry says have been born with microcephaly in the country since October have been concentrated in the country’s poorest regions, such as the northeast. But worries about Zika have prompted residents in wealthier cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to stock up on mosquito repellent.
by yahoo
