Plan for UK-based mosquito 'factory' announced

Oxitec has developed a genetically altered version of the Aedes aegypti mosquito

Plans to produce one billion mosquito eggs in the UK every week have been announced by a company working to combat insect transmitted disease.

Oxitec has developed genetically-altered male mosquitoes which have been used in Brazil and Panama.

The company's mosquitoes are designed to produce offspring that will not survive into adulthood so the population declines.

The unit making the eggs will be built in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

It is expected to create 75 new jobs, with the company currently in negotiations as to where the exact site would be.

It currently has a smaller facility in Milton Park, where male and female mosquitoes are reared in large cages.

Numerous doors lie between the interior and exterior of the facility so the insects cannot escape.

The unit making the eggs will be built in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

The mosquito created is a version of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is known to carry Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.

Once released in the wild it seeks out female mosquitoes to mate with.

When used in trials in Brazil the mosquito reduced the wild population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito by 90%, the firm said.

CEO Mark Carnegie-Brown said the technology represented a "paradigm change".

"This factory will better position us to help countries in need of superior solutions in the fight against this invasive mosquito," he added.

Environmentalists have previously warned over the possible consequences of wiping out an entire species.

But Oxitec said it was "very unlikely" its technology would have major effects on the ecosystem of an area where they are released.

The Zika virus outbreak in 2015 led Brazil to declare a national emergency and was linked to severe birth defects.

To build the factory in Oxfordshire, £7.3m is being invested by Oxitec's parent company, Intrexon Corporation.