Cyprus is battling an influx of disease-carrying mosquitoes, bringing hundreds of thousands of the insects after being sterilized through radiation.
Nicosia, Cyprus — Cyprus is battling an influx of disease-carrying mosquitoes, bringing hundreds of thousands of the insects after sterilization through radiation.
The fight is mainly focused on eradicating the Aedes aegypti species of mosquitoes which are found in large numbers in the island nation’s coastal city of Larnaca.
Cyprus’ environmental health service chief Herodotus Herodotou told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Aedes aegypti has been specifically targeted to prevent its possible migration to continental Europe.
The effort is also targeting the Aedes albopictus mosquito on the island, which is more common in Europe.
Both species can spread dangerous diseases to humans such as dengue, Zika and yellow fever, as well as West Nile virus.
Herodotou said his service collects both species of mosquitoes — both eggs and grown insects — and sends them to laboratories in Italy and Austria, where they are bred and separated into males and females.
The male mosquitoes are then sterilized by exposure to ionizing radiation at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna.
About 100,000 mosquitoes are then brought back to the island each week to be released at specific places and times to breed after feeding. Mating will not produce any offspring and as a result, the mosquito population will decrease.
According to Herodotou, the programme, which has also been tried out in other European countries including Italy and Greece, will continue until the end of the year. The cost of the program is mainly borne by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The advantage of the program is that officials will not have to resort to potentially harmful insecticides to eradicate the pests.
