Guangzhou experts pit mosquitoes against mosquitoes

Xi Zhiyong said on Friday he believes his research results will be fruitful, play a major role in pest control and prevent or reduce the spread of diseases in the future.

Xi and his team managed to completely eradicate a population of a mosquito species in Guangdong province in two years by releasing millions of insects specially bred to be infertile.

"Using mosquitoes to eliminate mosquitoes is an efficient and environmentally friendly way to eliminate insects that might spread dengue fever, the Zika virus and other tropical diseases," said the microbiology professor from Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University after his thesis, Incompatible and Sterile Insect Techniques Combined Eliminate Mosquitoes, was published.