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WORLD NEWSFriday 5 February 2016
Latin America scrambles to squash Zika-spreading mosquito
JENNY BARCHFIELD he said. This week, Florida
MALCOLM RITTER
Associated Press Gov. Rick Scott declared a
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) —
With no hope for a vac- state of emergency in four
cine to prevent Zika in the
near future, authorities are of his state’s counties in re-
focusing on the most effec-
tive way to combat the vi- sponse to reports of nine
rus: killing the mosquito that
carries it. cases of Zika, all believed
Fumigation is one method;
another is seeking out and to be travelers who con-
draining standing water
where the insect lays its tracted the disease outside
eggs. Other strategies are
possible, including larvae- of the country. The order
devouring fish, genetically
modified insects and even allows Florida’s agriculture
lasers.
But officials agree that it department to use mos-
won’t be easy.
The battle is focused on quito spray more in those
Aedes aegypti, a formida-
ble foe. It carries not only areas.
Zika, but other diseases like
dengue, yellow fever and Oxitec, a British biotech
chikunguya. Well adapted
to humans, it lives largely firm, says its genetically
inside homes and can lay
eggs in even a bottle-cap’s modified mosquitoes could
worth of stagnant water.
The dishes beneath potted be another part of the solu-
plants are a favorite spot,
as are abandoned tires, tion. It raises male mosqui-
bird feeders and even the
little puddles of rainwater toes that have been modi-
that collect in the folds of
plastic tarps. fied to produce offspring
“This mosquito really is a
bear to deal with,” said that do not live. These
Thomas Scott, professor of
entomology and epidemi- males are released into the
ology at the University of
California, Davis. “It’s al- target area, where they
most like a cockroach of
the mosquito world.” compete with wild males to
Scientists are also trying to
determine if, and how eas- In this Feb. 1, 2016 photo, a technician from the British biotec company Oxitec, inspects the pu- mate with the wild females.
ily, Zika could be spread
by sex or by blood transfu- pae of genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, a vector for transmitting the Zika virus, in The company said tests be-
sions. But the virus is usually Campinas, Brazil. gun last April as part of a
transmitted through mos- dengue-fighting program
quito bites. Associated Press
Brazil’s first case of Zika — a
virus that was first identified In this Feb. 1, 2016 photo, Guilherme Trivellato, from the British While DDT has been shown in the small southeastern
in Uganda in 1947 and sub- biotec company Oxitec, releases genetically modified Aedes to harm the environment, city of Piracicaba suggest-
sequently spread to parts aegypti mosquitoes, which are a vector for the spread of the new insecticides “really are ed the release of the GM
of Asia — was recorded Zika virus, in Piracicaba, Brazil. pretty safe environmental- males reduced the wild
in the middle of last year. ly,” said Charles Apperson, Aedes larvae population
Researchers don’t know Associated Press a professor emeritus of en- in the target neighborhood
exactly how it made the tomology at North Carolina by more than 80 percent.
jump, but two theories sug- than 20 countries in the re- the development of a vac- State University. But as with Oxitec officials insist the
gest it may have arrived gion, the Caribbean and cine against Zika. But a via- DDT, there’s still the issue company — which has also
with tourists visiting the beyond, leading the World ble vaccine is years away, of insects developing resis- done projects in Panama
country for the 2014 World Health Organization this and public health experts tance, so new insecticides and the Caiman Islands —
Cup soccer tournament week to declare an inter- say for now, slashing the must continually be devel- has the capacity to scale
or an international canoe- national emergency. mosquito population is key. oped, he said. up the program to tackle
ing competition the same Brazilian President Dilma large cities such as Recife,
year. Rousseff has pledged to a sprawling seaside me-
Thanks to Aedes aegypti, send some 220,000 mem- tropolis of 1.5 million that’s
the disease quickly spread bers of the armed forces the epicenter of Brazil’s Zika
across Brazil and to more door-to-door to help ferret outbreak.
out the spots of standing Still, with Zika already re-
water. But Scott said while corded in 19 Brazilian states
campaigns aimed at elimi- and widely expected to
nating stagnant water can continue spreading, some
help, they’re not enough. experts doubt that Oxitec’s
Pesticides are needed too, GM mosquitoes offer a re-
alistic solution.
The concern is not the dis- “The most important thing,”
ease itself — Zika’s immedi- said Jayme Souza-Neto,
ate effects are mild, con- a researcher at Sao Paulo
sisting mostly of a moder- State University who studies
ate fever and a rash, and interactions between virus-
only a fifth of those afflicted es and mosquitoes, is to “try
notice any symptoms. But to prevent mosquitoes from
Brazilian authorities say also reaching adulthood.”
they have detected a spike The country had success
in cases of microcephaly, against Aedes once be-
which leaves infants with fore, when a nationwide
unusually small heads and campaign to drain stand-
can result in brain damage ing waters and spray the in-
and a host of developmen- secticide DDT led to a steep
tal and health problems. fall in dengue and yellow In this Jan. 29, 2016 photo, Tamires da Costa, 16, who’s four
The link between Zika and fever in the late 1950s. But months pregnant, stands in a street with standing flood water
microcephaly is as yet un- as the crusade faded, the next to her home in the Parque Sao Bento shantytown of Rio de
proven. insect drifted back in from Janeiro, Brazil.
Brazil is pouring money into neighboring countries.
Associated Press
