Ahmedabad, March 07: 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 here 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.
–Agencies