Session: Innovative, Operational Non-Chemical Approaches to Mosquito Control Symposium II
235 - Scale-up of Oxitec’s Sustainable, Self-Limiting Solution for Aedes aegypti
Thursday, March 7, 2024
12:00pm – 12:15pm
Location: A3
Abstract: The invasive mosquito Aedesaegypti is distributed across much of the world and, aided by climate change, continues to spread to new regions in the US. One novel solution for management of Ae. aegypti is the release of self-limiting male mosquitoes. These non-biting males find and mate with local female conspecifics, and the resulting female offspring cannot survive. The number of biting females in subsequent generations is reduced, thereby delivering targeted, species-specific biological control of Ae. aegypti. The deployment of self-limiting male mosquitoes has proven highly effective in reducing Ae. aegypti populations in densely populated urban communities in Brazil by more than 90%, relative to those in untreated neighborhoods. Now commercially approved in Brazil, Friendly™ Aedes aegypti egg devices are being purchased by city governments, households, and businesses. This same self-limiting technology has undergone three seasons of successful pilots in the Florida Keys, demonstrating its utility as a safe and effective vector control tool.
