NEA Is Going to Breed 5 Million Mosquitoes Every Week & Release Them to Fight Dengue

By
Siti Hawa
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Three words:

Mosquito. Production. Facility.

Image: mrwgifs.com

It’s kinda funny since I would imagine a mosquito breeding facility to be part of a plot in a dystopian movie.

Bloodsucking, zombie making mosquitos are about to wipe out mankind.

The only hope left for the human race is to breed a special superman-esque mosquito, our very own army to fight the baddy mosquitos and save us all.

Thus, a super futuristic mosquito production facility must be built with sophisticated white walls and floors. Kind of like Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things… but for mosquitos.

Image: Pinterest

And without further ado:

NEA Is Going to Breed 5 Million Mosquitoes Every Week & Release Them to Fight Dengue

A new $5 million mosquito production facility opened today, an initiative by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to fight bloodsucking mosquitos dengue.

The reason? There has been a worrying increase of dengue cases in Singapore over the course of the year.

It’s really quite bad. There were almost 15,000 cases and 20 deaths this year, according to Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor.

This was announced during the opening of the facility. And put your seat belts on because the situation is about to get worse.

Global warming and climate change is predicted to worsen the whole dengue problem in Singapore since higher temperatures will allow mosquitos to breed at a much more rapid rate.

In Dr Khor’s words “This is because mosquitoes breed faster at higher temperatures, and the dengue virus also replicates faster, allowing it to be transmitted more efficiently.”

Hawkin’s Lab The Facility

Lest you’re unaware, there is already a facility at Neythal Road, however this shiny new facility at Ang Mo Kio will have 10 times the production capability.

It aims to produce a whopping five million mosquitos a week.

Image: Gifs SkyMeteor

This is part of an effort to expand the Project Wolbachia field trial which involves infecting male aedes aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia bacteria. When the male aedes aegypti mosquitoes mates with a female, the eggs will not hatch.

Plus, male Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes also do not bite.

Simply speaking, Wolbachia is our friend.

The project started its fourth phase in November 2019, expanding trials to 284 residential blocks at Tampines West and Nee Soon East.

Futuristic Facility

The facility itself is high-tech and is fitted with automation to reduce the time needed to produce these much-coveted male Wolbachia-carrying mosquitos.

These include a larvae counter which no longer requires manual counting of larvae and pupae sorter so staff won’t have to separate male and female pupae manually.

With all that said, Dr Khor emphasised that the Wolbachia technology is not meant to replace our usual practices to prevent dengue.

“Wolbachia is meant to enhance, not replace, our existing vector control strategies, which are focused on source reduction.”

So remember not to leave any stagnant water lying around and do remain vigilant!

Preventive measures

  • Cover floor traps and toilet bowls
  • Seal off overflow pipes of flushing cisterns
  • Add sand granular insecticide to places where mosquitoes could breed and where stagnant water cannot be removed
  • Clear debris or blockages in roof gutters and place insecticide
  • Turn over all water containers and wipe the rims dry
  • Ask a relative or friend to check your home regularly for stagnant water if you’re abroad
  • Leave your contact details with your neighbours or the neighbourhood police centre so you can be easily reached

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Siti Hawa
Email: [email protected]