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SINGAPORE – 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.
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 90per cent declines using this technique, she added.
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