IAEA Begins Construction of Laboratory to Improve Fight Against Virus Spread

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in the process of building a new laboratory that will help countries use nuclear technologies to fight insect pests, including the mosquitoes spreading the deadly Zika virus, the agency announced Monday.

"The modernization of the laboratories will allow us to scale up the provision of scientific services and training so that we can more efficiently help Member States meet current and future challenges, such as the Zika outbreak," IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Sciences and Applications Aldo Malavasi said in a statement.

According to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, the laboratory is one of the most important projects in the agency's 60-year history.

The project aims to assist countries with the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology in areas including human and animal health, food security and the protection of the environment. The laboratory is developed with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and is based on an environmentally friendly method of the Sterile Insect Technique to combat fruit flies and livestock pests.

The construction is part of the Renovation of the Nuclear Applications Laboratories project (ReNuAL), a 31-million euros (about $35 million) plan of eight Nuclear Sciences and Applications laboratories upgrade. The construction of the new Insect Pest Control Laboratory is to be completed by the end of 2017 in Seibersdorf, Austria.

The Zika outbreak began in Brazil in the spring of 2015. The virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitos. It does not cause serious complications in adults, but it can cause severe brain defects and microcephaly in newborns.