Mosquito population drops sharply, announces Nature

An article published in the world' s top academic journal Nature on July 18 local time in UK reports the results of Sun Yat-sen University' s fieldwork on killing mosquitoes.

The experiment, held on two small islands in Guangzhou' s Nansha district, has led to aedes albopictus, the most aggressive species of mosquito, being nearly eliminated by two kinds of modification technology, according to the abstract of the article.

Data show the mosquito population was reduced by 90 percent or so from 2015 to 2017 in the island where experimental specimens were released. Notably, local residents’ bite rate was cut down by 96.6 percent.

The research project, first reported by local media in 2014, entered an open fieldwork stage after a small-scale success in laboratories. The research team put a batch of modified sterile mosquitoes on two relatively isolated islands in 2015, and kept track of the swarms for the next two years.

The team, working with Guangzhou' s  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has now applied this mosquito-killing technology to urban villages and skyscraper areas, Xi Zhiyong, author of the paper, said at a press conference on July 16.

Drones will be used for the release as a way to suppress aedes albopictuses at a rapid clip in complex environments.

Some question whether this approach is safe for the eco-environment, to which Xi Zhiyong gives a positive response. He says that they are attempting to eradicate only one species of mosquito that is spreading disease rather than affect those which play a vital role in the eco-environment.