Cyprus fights disease-carrying mosquitoes

The Health Ministry is to deploy hundreds of thousands of sterilised mosquitoes to combat an influx of disease-carrying ones.

Authorities will primarily focus on the invasive species of the Aedes aegypti variety of mosquitoes found in large numbers in the coastal town of Larnaca.

According to a Health Ministry announcement, the Aedes aegypti has been specifically targeted to prevent its potential migration to continental Europe.

The effort also targets the Aedes albopictus mosquito on the island, which is more common in Europe.

Medical findings show that both varieties can transmit dangerous diseases such as dengue, Zika and yellow fever, and West Nile virus to humans.

Authorities will employ the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), developed in the late 1950s to manage harmful insects and is environmentally friendly.

“A population of the insect of interest is collected and produced in larger numbers, and the male insects of the species of interest are then sterilised with ionising radiation, using machines similar to those found in hospitals and medical centres,” said the Health Ministry.

The sterilised mosquitoes will then be freed into the environment to mate with the females, producing sterile eggs, significantly reducing the insect’s population or even eliminating it.

This method is recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The reproduction of the mosquitoes is being carried out in laboratories in Italy and Austria, where they’re bred and separated into male and female.

The male mosquitoes are then sterilised by exposure to ionising radiation at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna.

About 100,000 mosquitoes are then brought back to the island every week to be released at specific locations and times for breeding after they are fed.

“The sterilised mosquitoes do not pose any danger to humans or animals,” said the ministry.