An international research team has made a significant breakthrough in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases by developing an automated device that efficiently separates male and female mosquitoes. This engineering marvel is poised to revolutionize the biological control of diseases such as dengue fever.
The team, comprising researchers from institutions including Michigan State University, Jinan University, and Guangzhou Wolbaki Biotech Co., Ltd., published their findings in the prestigious journal Science Robotics on Wednesday.
In recent years, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes have intensified due to factors like climate change and increased human mobility. Traditional chemical control methods have proven limited and have raised concerns about environmental pollution and resistance, explained Li Yongjun, an associate professor at Jinan University.
“Studies have shown that releasing male mosquitoes, which do not bite or transmit diseases, to mate with wild female mosquitoes can effectively control the wild mosquito population,” Li said, highlighting the advantages of biological control methods.
Despite the proven effectiveness of this technology in suppressing wild mosquito populations and reducing the spread of diseases like dengue fever, large-scale applications have been hindered by the challenge of separating male mosquitoes from females.
Addressing this bottleneck, Gong Juntao, a researcher at Guangzhou Wolbaki Biotech Co., Ltd., revealed that the team has independently developed an automated device capable of efficiently stirring, separating, and collecting mosquito pupae. “The automated separator allows an operator to separate over 16 million male mosquitoes by working eight hours a day, five days a week, which is a 17-fold increase compared to manual separation,” Gong stated.
The results demonstrate that the automated device has significant potential to control tropical mosquito-borne diseases effectively. The device has already been distributed to 18 countries, including the United States, Australia, and Italy, marking a substantial advancement in global health efforts.
Reference(s):
Scientists achieve breakthrough in controlling mosquito-borne diseases
cgtn.com
