Sterile Male Mosquito Technique to control Dengue in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st): A team of professors from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Kelaniya has discovered a method of controlling dengue by releasing sterilized male mosquitoes into the environment. The findings were based on more than five years of research, Professor Menaka Hapugoda of the Molecular Medicine Unit at the Faculty of Medicine told News 1st on Wednesday (Mar. 24). The sterile male mosquito technology is widely used to control different mosquito vector populations in other countries and this will be applied to control Dengue in Sri Lanka as well. "We can release sterile male dengue mosquitoes to a selected environment, where the male mosquitoes will mate with female mosquitoes. Then the female mosquitoes will lay eggs, but they are infertile eggs. Meaning, there won't be a next mosquito generation/ population in that area. By releasing these sterile male mosquitoes over a period of time, we can control the dengue vector mosquito population in the particular area," Prof. Menaka Hapugoda elaborated on the process. According to Prof. Menaka Hapugoda of the Kelaniya University, the pilot project to release these mosquitoes into the environment will be launched on the 29th of March 2021 from the Keedarammulla area in Gampaha.