THE GOVERNMENT OF HONG KONG IS PLANING TO USE ELEPHANT MOSQUITOES, WHICH FEED ON THE LARVAE OF OTHER MOSQUITOES RATHER THAN BLOOD, TO CONTROL THE SPREAD OF CHIKUNGUNYA FEVER.
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY SECRETARY, TSE CHIN-WAN REVEALED THAT THE APPROACH HAS BEEN USED IN FOSHAN, GUANGDONG PROVINCE IN CHINA, WHERE MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE OUTBREAK HAS BEEN REPORTED.
CHIN-WAN, WHO SAID HONG KONG MOSQUITO-EATING FISH ARE EFFECTIVE IN AREAS WITH MANY PONDS, NOTED THAT THE COUNTRY ALREADY HAS A LARGE NUMBER OF SUCH FISH.
CHIKUNGUNYA, A MOSQUITO-BORNE VIRAL DISEASE, IS BECOMING MORE COMMON, WITH APPROXIMATELY 240,000 CASES REPORTED WORLDWIDE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR.
