YIBADA

China Releases Mosquitoes to Stop Spread of Zika Virus

| Aug 04, 2016 12:11 AM EDT

Residents in Florida fight Zika through fumigation.

Mosquitos have been injected with the Wolbachia bacteria in a laboratory prior to release. The male mosquitoes will sterilize female mosquitoes when they mate.

These insects were released in the outskirts of Guangzhou.

Female mosquitoes have tube-like mouths that pierce the skin to extract blood. It is the female that carries and transmits viruses that cause Zika, dengue and yellow fever.

"The aim is trying to suppress the mosquito density below the threshold which can cause disease transmission," said Zhiyong Xi, the center's director.

Zhiyong said that the key is to release the mosquitoes at the identified hotspots to stop disease-carrying mosquitoes from multiplying.

This disease is carried by the same mosquito species that carries dengue and yellow fever. The human transmission will occur through sexual intercourse.

The virus grows in a man's semen and it is unknown if women can transmit the disease.

Athletes who will participate in the Rio Olympics expressed concern with being infected by Zika. Four golfers decided not to attend.

Zika started in Africa and spread to the South Pacific. In Florida, a case was reported this week. China had its first case in February.

The Chinese man is from Ganxian county in the eastern province of Jiangxi. He worked in Dongguan, a manufacturing center in the Guangdong Province, according to a report released by China's Department of Health.

He traveled in Venezuela and traveled through China. The government said that no other cases of infection were reported.

He was hospitalized in his hometown and recovered.

The World Health Organization said that the Zika virus can cause microcephaly in newborns, a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head.

The health department in China said that the country is fully equipped to battle the virus.

Related News

Most Popular

EDITOR'S PICK