Oxitec's GMO mosquito technology is estimated to cost $1.9 million for the first year and $384,000 every year after for a city of 50,000 inhabitants

A study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases presents a cost-effectiveness tool that can help guide decisions regarding resource allocation to fund interventions targeted at curtailing the ongoing Zika virus outbreak.

The study found most interventions cost-effective except the use of GM male mosquitoes that mate with wild female mosquitoes and do not produce offspring.

The technology, developed by Oxitec, a company that is majority owned by Intrexon, is estimated to cost $1.9 million for the first year and $384,000 every year after for a city of 50,000 inhabitants.

The researchers found that for some resource-limited countries like El Salvador or Nicaragua, the number of Zika infections that would have to be prevented in order for the intervention to be cost-effective is higher than the entire population of the city.

Source: Infection Control Today http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2016/05/zika-virus-tool-predicts-most-interventions-to-be-costeffective.aspx