The head of the IAEA announced that peaceful atom will help in the fight against Ebola and Zika viruses

General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano is confident that peaceful atom will help in the fight against dangerous diseases of the XXI century, including Zika virus and Ebola. 

As Yukiya Amano explained in the interview to the independent Latvian online media IrLv, the virus can be identified by means of radioactive isotopes. The use of nuclear technology reduces the time to identify the causative agent of Ebola in 24 times. The factor time plays a crucial role in identifying dangerous virus. The device, which was designed to improve the efficiency of the fight against the Ebola virus, is small, affordable and safe. Zika virus can be identified by similar way. 

"The traditional methodology of virus identification is the cultivation of its colonies in a nutrient medium, but it takes four days. Nuclear technologies allow identifying the virus in four hours. This plays a decisive role in preventing of disease spread and early treatment, that can save a human life", explained Yukiya Amano.

Atom is not only able to identify dangerous diseases, but also can be used as an instrument to fight the spread of disease. "Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes of certain species. By using our technologies mosquitoes can be sterilized and gradually the number of population carrying the virus is reduced. We irradiate male mosquitoes with gamma radiation and then release them. There won’t be any offspring after their mating with female mosquitoes. In combination with traditional methods it is possible to gradually reduce the population of mosquitoes,“ said the General Director of IAEA.

The initiative in search of the ways to fight dangerous viruses is also demonstrated by Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM. Specialists of Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics and Automation (NIITFA), a part of ROSATOM, developed a method of gender sterilization by radiation. The insects which were specially bred or captured are irradiated and then released into their natural habitat, where these species are common.