Alex Trelinski
VALENCIA City Council will release 1.3 million sterile tiger mosquitoes in a bid to reduce the tiger mosquito population.
Sterile male specimens will released for 30 weeks, amounting to 45,000 mosquitoes weekly.
It is the female tiger mosquito that bites people and this method is used to reduce the insect population on the simple basis that when an infertile male mates, the female does not reproduce.
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It also has the advantage that is a biological method of population control which does not affect the environment, and the sterile males don’t bite, which means diseases transmission to humans is very rare.
The first mosquito release has been in the Viveros Gardens- a humid and shady area that encourages the spread of the sterile insects throughout the city.
Valencia’s Health Councillor, Jose Gosalbez, described it as a ‘fundamental measure’ for the health and well-being of Valencians.
The initiative will run until the end of the year to a bid to counter public health risks as the female tiger mosquito transmits diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus.
The plague affects the whole city, although districts such as Patraix, Pobles del Sud and Quatre Carreres have registered the highest number of complaints this year.
Spraying and other forms of control have been taking place in urban areas that are considered as sensitive like hospitals, health centres or landscaped areas.
Although the sterile mosquito technique is new to Valencia, it is not a new concept in the Valencian Community.
Paterna was a beneficiary last year, and it has been used in the Ribera Baixa region in places like Polinya de Xuquer and Albalat de la Ribera) to produce an 80% drop in the tiger mosquito population, while the Plana de Castello has recorded a 60% fall.
