 The mosquito is nobody's favourite creature. For many, it's a blood-sucking pest that ruins a summer day. For millions, it's the cause of sickness, even death. A major outbreak of the tzika disease in Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted the urgent need for more effective mosquito control methods. The IAA, in cooperation with the FAO, responded swiftly to the tzika crisis by making available a nuclear technique that controls pests by rendering the males infertile with radiation. It's known as the sterile insect technique, or SIT for short. The IAA, with its international partners FAO, WHO and the Pan-American Health Organization brought scientists from around the world to a meeting in Brazil to review the potential of this method to tackle mosquitoes. They agreed, SIT is an efficient, safe and environmentally friendly way to control these pests and fight diseases like tzika. For SIT to work, millions of sterile male insects need to be released in the wild over many months because they need to outnumber the fertile wild ones. Eventually, populations decline because mating produces no offspring. At the IAA's Insect Pest Control Laboratory in Cybersdorf, Austria, entomologists have been developing and improving this technique for over 50 years. It's already used in around 25 countries, mainly to tackle pests such as fruit flies and tziki flies. The experts are now developing techniques for the mass rearing of mosquitoes. These are being transferred to countries affected by tzika to help them integrate the sterile insect technique in their pest control programs and develop this method further. Over 100,000 mosquitoes from three different species are kept here. Special attention is given to this one, adis egypti, which is responsible for spreading the tzika virus. An environment has been created for the entire life cycle of the mosquito from the egg to the larvae, the pupae to the adult. The pests live, feed and mate in large specially designed cages. The females feed on animals' blood. A method for collecting the eggs has been devised, as well as a space-saving system where they can hatch into larvae and feed. And the entomologists have developed techniques for preparing the pupae for sterilization in a gamma irradiator. Research has been conducted to find the right dose of radiation to sterilize the males without damaging them or affecting their mating ability. In a further step to help countries tackle the tzika virus, the IAA is providing portable equipment for the rapid detection of the virus and training scientists from the affected countries how to use this system. Mosquitoes are one of the world's most dangerous pests. When fully implemented and used with other control methods, the sterile insect technique could help countries reduce their numbers and cope better with the diseases these small but deadly creatures can spread.