MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The company announced on Wednesday that its new facility, located in the city of Piracicaba, would be able to produce some 60 million so-called Friendly Aedes mosquitos per week. This will protect up to 3 million people by reducing local populations of the dangerous Aedes aegypti mosquito, Intrexon said.
"With the rising global incidence of harmful viral infections including Zika, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and now Mayaro, driven primarily by the bite of the dangerous Aedes aegypti, it is essential we make Oxitec's [Intrexon subsidiary] proven, unparalleled Friendly Aedes vector control solution more available to the many countries this disease-spreading mosquito has invaded," Thomas P. Bostick, Senior Vice President and Head of Intrexon's Environment Sector, said, as quoted by the company.
The Zika outbreak started in Brazil in the spring of 2015. The virus is transmitted by infected Aedes species of mosquitoes and produces no visible effects on adults, however, the disease can cause severe brain defects to unborn babies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus a new pandemic threat. The emergency measures to control the population of Aedes mosquitoes are currently underway in Asia, including Thailand.
