The Mahidol University has now achieved a breakthrough in the birth control of the Aedes mosquitoes and will release the sterilized mosquitoes into the real environment in Chachoengsao province for test.
Chief of the university’s Centre of Excellence for Vectors and Vector-Borne Diseases Vice Professor Pattamaporn Kittayapong said the mosquitoes sterilised via this two-step sterilisation technique will not affect the balance of nature because they will die within two to three weeks.
100 sterilised mosquitoes per household will be released into the nature for the first time at a pilot 150-household community in Tambon Hua Samrong of Chachoengsao’s Plaeng Yao district by the end of this month, she said.
The two-step method applies both X-ray technology and injection of Wolbachia bacteria which will help ease the number of patients suffering from dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika fever and yellow fever.
The test release will be followed up for six months and if proved effective, a plan to set up a farm for Aedes mosquito sterilisation will be pushed forward in the hope of exterminating its population in nature.
