Brazil planning to ‘sterilise mosquitos to battle zika’

Brazil is planning to fight the zika virus by zapping millions of male mosquitoes with gamma rays to sterilise them and stop the spread of the virus linked to thousands of birth defects.

Called an irradiator, the device has been used to control fruit flies on the Portuguese island of Madeira.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it will pay to ship the device to Juazeiro, in the northeastern state of Bahia, as soon as the Brazilian government issues an import permit.