Ahmedabad: With invention of new genetic
tools, financial losses incurred due to epidemics caused by
diseases like dengue and chikungunya can be substantially
reduced in the country, a study released said.
As per the study carried out by IIM-Ahmedabad, India`s
estimated annual burden of dengue and chikungunya is Rs 6,120
crore and dengue haemorrhagic fever is said to be the leading
cause of hospitalisation and death among children in the
country.
"Now three new technologies promise to reduce this
burden. The latest of the three technologies involves a
genetically modified strain (OX3604) of the dengue mosquito
Aedes aegypti in which female mosquito progeny cannot fly," Dr
SS Vasan, Oxford University owned Oxitec`s head of public
health, said.
Dr Vasan was involved in the study conducted by IIM-A and
was here after attending a two week meeting of the Asian
Biosafety Network set up by the WHO`s Special Programme on
Tropical Diseases Research (WHO/TDR) at Madurai, which ended
on March 4.
The meeting was attended by over fifty experts from 12
countries and different parts of India and was hosted by the
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), he added.
Talking about the newly developed technologies, Dr Vasan
said, "Researchers at Oxford University and its part-owned
bio-tech company Oxitec Limited have made a genetic alteration
in the mosquitoes that disrupts wing muscle development in
female offspring, rendering them incapable of flight."
These female mosquitoes, without their ability to fly,
are unable to spread the disease, he added.
PTI
