Argentina sterilizes mosquitoes with radiation to battle devastating dengue outbreak

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Argentine, combating considered one of its worst outbreaks of dengue lately, is sterilizing mosquitoes utilizing radiation that alters their DNA earlier than releasing them into the wild.

The South American country has this yr recorded over 41,000 instances of the illness transmitted by mosquitoes, far above the equal degree in earlier years of main outbreaks in 2020 and 2016, authorities information confirmed.

“This mosquito, as a result of rise in temperature in our nation and the world… is ready to unfold extra. Their inhabitants retains on transferring additional south,” stated Nationwide Atomic Power Fee (CNEA) biologist Marianela Garcia Alba.

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An Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen under a magnifying glass near Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 12, 2023. Dengue is transmitted through aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

An Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen underneath a magnifying glass close to Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 12, 2023. Dengue is transmitted by way of aedes aegypti mosquitoes. (REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian)

To struggle again, CNEA biologists have been experimenting with atomic sterilization since 2016. They’re sterilizing 10,000 males per week and purpose to extend that to 500,000. They anticipate to launch the primary batch of sterilized males in November.

“They’re sterilized by way of ionizing vitality and people sterile males are freed into the fields and once they meet with a wild feminine, their offspring will not be viable,” stated Garcia Alba. “This fashion, by successive launch of such males we’ll be capable to cut back the inhabitants of the vector mosquito.”

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Dengue is transmitted by way of the bites of aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Its signs embody fever, eye, head, muscle and joint ache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

Related strategies to sterilize pests utilizing the identical radiation present in X-rays have been utilised for many years, serving to international efforts to manage illnesses comparable to chikungunya, dengue and Zika.

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