KUALA LUMPUR: The Institute for Medical Research released about 6,000 non-biting sterile male Aedes mosquitoes of a genetically modified strain to see how they disperse and how long they survive.
About the same number of wild type male Aedes was released with them for purposes of comparison in an uninhabited forested area near Bentong in Pahang, the IMR said yesterday.
“The experiment (which began on Dec 21 last year) was successfully concluded on Jan 6. Fogging with insecticide was conducted on Jan 6 to eliminate all mosquitoes but monitoring will continue as long as necessary, up to two months,” it added in a statement.
The trial came after four years of extensive evaluation of this strain by the IMR under laboratory and semi-field conditions.
IMR has no plans for further releases before the post-trial monitoring is completed.
IMR said that results of its experiments are analysed and presented in peer-reviewed scientific journals and at meetings. — Bernama