Scientists hope to use radiation "to make the male mosquito sterile, so then he goes back to his habitat and even if he mates, the female will not have any offspring".

With larva-chomping fish and genetically modified insects, Latin Americans are deploying legions of little helpers to destroy mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus in the world's latest mass health scare.

Scientists are devising numerous ways to try and stamp out the mosquitoes whose bites spread the virus, which they suspect can cause brain damage in babies and paralysis in adults.

Some want to wipe out baby mosquito larvae in standing water where the insects breed. Others propose to zap the male mosquitoes' privates with radiation to make them impotent.

Still others just want a plain old toad in their home to gobble any mosquitoes that buzz in.