Sterile mosquitoes to reduce the population. This is the objective of the release of several thousand sterile tiger mosquitoes to Brita-La-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze Department, in the New Aquitaine Region in France, as part of an experiment on an unprecedented scale in this country to combat the proliferation of this insect carrier of diseases such as the Dengue or the chikungunya.
The operation has taken place in these days a neighborhood that has been particularly affected for several years sinceAedes Albopictusthe most commonly known as the “tiger mosquito”.
Every week, for almost six months, 400,000 male mosquitoes made sterile male mosquitoes, for a total of about 11 million individuals. With this sterile (SIT) insect technique, used for decades in the agricultural sector, mosquitoes are intended to mate with females, who are the only responsible for the bites. Being their neutralized offspring, the populations must decrease mechanically.
The “sterile insect technique”
This measure is not new, but is part of the “sterile insect technique“(SIT), an ecological and pesticide method, developed in the 1940s in the United States and promoted internationally by FAO. Used in various countries for the control of other harmful insects, such as the fruit fly, is also applied to the Fight against theAedes Aegypti in areas affected by dellue epidemics.
After the early days, the population of wild mosquitoes is expected will begin to drop visibly.
This technique represents a hope for the biological control of the epidemics transmitted by mosquitoes without resorting to insecticides.
