a start-up proposes to disseminate sterile mosquitoes by drones to fight against dengue fever

Instead of spraying insecticide, BirdView, the start-up BirdView, wants to release thousands of sterile male mosquitoes into infested areas.

In 2024, Guyana will experience its worst dengue epidemic in 20 years, with nearly 3,000 new cases observed since January. It is a disease transmitted by mosquitoes and a solution could come from drones. This solution comes from the start-up BirdView which offers spreading by drone. But a somewhat special spraying since instead of spraying insecticide, their drones will release thousands of sterile male mosquitoes in the most infested areas. Because female mosquitoes (the ones that bite) can only reproduce once in their life. So as soon as they mate with one of these sterile males, it will be over. They will have no descendants. Which will eventually gradually decimate the population and therefore reduce the risk of contamination.

This technique is effective, it has been used for decades. Moreover, the sterilization of insects, which is done by irradiation, was developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations. Until now, mosquitoes were mainly released by truck and they had difficulty reaching all the breeding grounds. It was therefore necessary to wait several months to see a reduction in the number of mosquitoes.

Reduce a population by 90% in one month

But with drones, their distribution can be done in a more homogeneous, more targeted manner. And according to the start-up, a population could be reduced by 90% in less than four weeks on around ten hectares. The difficulty was to create containers that did not stress the mosquitoes. They should not change their behavior or their way of mating, for example.

And this technique is ready to be deployed. Full-scale tests have taken place in Brazil and the results are so encouraging that the technique is now being validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency. If all goes well, we may soon have a lethal weapon to get rid of mosquitoes. This insect is the first predator of man, it carries diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue or chikungunya.