Inside the massive mosquito factory where scientists are working to stop the Zika virus

This factory in China is full of mosquitos.

The lab at Sun Yat-Sen University-Michigan University Joint Center of Vector Control in Gaungzhou, China is over 37,700 square feet and has four workshops to raise the insects.

Their goal is to stop the next generation of the Zika virus.

The lab raises millions of male mosquitoes for research that could potentially end the next strain of Zika.

At the lab, mosquitoes are poisoned with a strain of Wolbachia pipientis, a common bacterium shown to forbid Zika and similar viruses, such as dengue fever.

After the male mosquitoes are infected with the bacterium, researchers release the infected mosquitoes on nearby islands to mate with wild females who then obtain the bacterium, which will prevent the proper fertilization of her eggs.

Each of the four workshops produce 5 million mosquitoes a week.

In total, 20 million mosquitoes are raised in just one week.

The lab first started their Zika research last summer, and in April of this year they were established as the international front-runner in fighting mosquito-born viruses.

Source: Daily Mail

The team of researchers just recently released the first set of infected mosquitoes on Shazai island and is planning to release the next set on the Dadaosha Island in Panyu district.

Source: Daily Mail

The mosquitoes that they raise do not bite, so local residents do not have to fear the newcomers.

The life threatening virus — that has spread to 49 countries — is on its way to being controlled.

After a year of research, the lab claims there is a 99% abolishment of the population of Aedes albopictus — also known as Asia tiger mosquito — that are known to carry the Zika virus.