An international team of Chinese scientists published a paper in the British Journal of Nature on the 17th, saying that they had almost completely eliminated wild Aedes albopictus in the field test area through the combination of male mosquito infection with Wolbachia and female mosquito sterilization, and that this method was more environmentally friendly and efficient than other mosquito control methods.

　　Aedes albopictus is the main vector of dengue, Zhaika and other viruses. Prevention and control of these mosquitoes is of great significance in curbing the spread of related infectious diseases.

　　Professor Xi Zhiyong of Sun Yat-sen University of China has developed a new method for mosquito population control in cooperation with IAEA, Michigan State University, Guangzhou Weibaikun Biotechnology Co., Ltd. of China and China Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The team first infected mosquitoes with Wolbachia, then irradiated mosquitoes with low doses of radiation to sterilize female mosquitoes, but without affecting the reproductive capacity of male mosquitoes, eventually releasing the infected bacteria and the mosquitoes exposed to radiation into the wild.

　　Previous studies have found that Wolbachia can be used to control the reproduction of Aedes mosquitoes. When male Aedes mosquitoes are infected with this common symbiotic bacteria, the eggs laid by female Aedes mosquitoes mating with them cannot hatch.

　　The team conducted field trials on two islands in Guangzhou, during which millions of Aedes albopictus carrying Walbacterium and exposed to radiation were released. The results showed that the new method of "two-pronged approach" almost completely eliminated the wild population of Aedes albopictus in the experimental area.

　　Earlier, a British company tried to control mosquito populations using GM technology. In terms of biosafety and control, this new method has more advantages than GM technology. Because we use a kind of symbiotic bacteria widely existing in insects in nature, it may have been closely and peacefully with us since the emergence of human beings. It can not infect vertebrates including human beings.

　　Will this new approach bring about ecological risks? There are more than 3,000 mosquitoes in nature. The new technology only aims at a few mosquito species that transmit diseases. The other mosquito species that do not transmit diseases and do less harm to human beings are not affected. The team plans to validate the new method in a wider urban area to see if it can effectively block the spread of infectious diseases such as dengue fever.