Singapore fights worst dengue outbreak with lab-grown mosquitoes

Officials are using lab-bred male mosquitoes that carry a bacteria that prevents eggs from hatching, to lower the mosquito population

Singapore has seen 20 deaths from dengue, out of 26,000 cases this year. In comparison, 27 people have died of the coronavirus, out of some 56,000 infections

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Male Wolbachia-aedes aegypti mosquitos are released in Singapore on August 27, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:27am, 29 Aug 2020Updated: 6:45pm, 29 Aug 2020

From the high balcony of a Singapore public housing block, an environment official steadies his mosquito launcher, the latest contraption authorities have devised to combat a record outbreak of the tropical disease dengue.

With the click of a button and a whirr of a fan, a hatch opens and 150 lab-reared male mosquitoes are sent flying, off in search of a female companion with whom they can mate but not reproduce.

The dengue virus, which in rare cases can be fatal, is carried and spread to humans by infected mosquitoes. Only female mosquitoes bite humans.

The male Wolbachia-aedes aegypti mosquitoes carry a bacteria that prevents eggs from hatching. Photo: Reuters

But Singapore’s specially bred mosquitoes carry a bacteria that prevents eggs from hatching, and “compete with the wild type”, leading to “a gradual reduction of the mosquito population”, said Ng Lee Ching, the official heading the Wolbachia project, named after the bacteria.

Some areas with high mosquito populations have seen up to 90 per cent declines using this technique, she added.