'Factory' produces 30 million mosquitoes a week, praised by Bill Gates

Inside a two-story building in Medellín (Colombia), a team of scientists are hard at work in a humid laboratory where millions of mosquitoes are born. They "feed" them by creating the right temperature environment and feeding them, from sugar to blood.

They then released them across Colombia to breed with mosquitoes in the wild, which can carry dengue fever and other viruses that can infect people.

This is not a horror story at all, but a fact. The mosquitoes are released not to harm the local people but on the contrary, they help millions of people get rid of some diseases caused by mosquitoes in the wild.

Mosquitoes are "manufactured" from the "factory" in Medellín carrying bacteria called Wolbachia that prevent them from transmitting dengue fever and other viruses such as Zika or yellow fever virus to humans. By releasing and allowing them to breed with natural mosquitoes, Wolbachia bacteria will multiply, protecting millions of people from disease.

A mosquito cage in a laboratory in Medellín.

Not long ago, billionaire Bill Gates had an article about this special "factory" on his website "GatesNotes". According to him, a trial in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) last year showed that Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes reduced the number of dengue cases in the city by 77% and hospital admissions by 86%. In a new study in Medellín, dengue cases have decreased by 89% since Wolbachia mosquitoes began being released in 2015.

These results are a huge breakthrough, providing evidence that this new technology can protect countries from the threat of mosquito-borne diseases. The World Mosquito program, is currently releasing Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes in 11 countries: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

The remarkable thing about Wolbachia mosquitoes is that once they are released enough to protect people from disease, it becomes a self-sustaining solution. Over time, people will not have to worry about mosquito-borne diseases, and funds and medical facilities to treat these diseases will also be released.

According to Gates, in the context of climate change, the mission of the World Mosquito program is considered urgent. As global temperatures increase, mosquito species that cause infectious diseases have more and more environments to live and thrive, increasing the spread of disease. The biggest risk is dengue fever, which infects more than 400 million people and kills 20,000 each year.

Therefore, the demand for Wolbachia mosquitoes will continue to increase, which means that World Mosquito needs to produce hundreds of millions of mosquitoes. The "factory" in Medellín is currently the largest mosquito breeding facility in the world, producing more than 30 million mosquitoes a week.

Wolbachia mosquitoes are released into the wild.

Until now, killing or repelling mosquitoes with insecticides, nets and traps is still a top priority, not mass production of mosquitoes. Killing mosquitoes is hard, raising millions of mosquitoes is even harder. Mosquitoes must be nurtured, fed and in ideal conditions for them to grow and reproduce. The plant in Medellín has been perfecting the process and improving efficiency to be able to breed and release Wolbachia mosquitoes on a large scale.

Once it has successfully bred millions of eggs and adult mosquitoes, the plant releases them into the wild. The World Mosquito team is also experimenting with dropping them from drones. Gates said he hopes World Mosquito's program continues to grow to protect and save more lives around the world.