th week we hd to brazi a land plagued by mosquito-borne disease. but can these insects be rendered haress? in romania, we check out the booming live-cam industry. what is it that draws young people to this work? and in britain, we meet people suffering from loneliness. it's on the rise. we find out why. today we're more connected than ever before.

at the drop of a hat, we can link up with friends, relatives, and even strangers. yet despite social media, we are more isolated and lonelier than ever. loneliness affects all age groups, and experts warn that it can cause health problems. for instance, it's linked to depression. britain, too, is facing an epidemic of loneliness. since the start of the year, the country has had a government minister charged with tackling the issue. reporter: away from the bright lights, hustle and bustle and pomp and pageantry of central london, it can be a grey, glum, and lonely city. age u.k. is a charity that helps the elderly. it's known for providing home-help services, but also for its friendship centers where pensioners can meet up.

almost one in five british seniors has contact with other people less than four times a month. half of the country's over-75's live alone. women, in particular, feel lonely. felicity: sometimes i say i don't want to live. that's happening now. i suppose it's old age. things change, and maybe health-wise, something like that, and you can't do what you want to do. then you fall asleep during the day, and the worst thing you can do is sleep during the day and wake up and you feel terrible, not worth it. it pays to stay awake until it's time to go to bed. reporter: isolation isn't just a problem among older people. robyn also wishes she had more social contact. rebecca isn't a close friend. she's a complete stranger, her hug therapist.

robyn lives on her own in a detached house in the countryside. she also works from home, organizing events for people to make new friends. but ironically, she herself feels lonely. robyn: i enjoy my own space, but then it gets to a point where you actually realize that you've had too much of your own space. and then you can't just suddenly magic up friends that you've built a relationship with. it's that small talk, i think. so then you suddenly realize that on a saturday night you've got no one to go out and have a few drinks with. reporter: robyn is single, but she's not the shy type. she's a self-confident working woman. but the traffic speeding past on the motorway behind her home sums up how she feels. robyn: a lot of my conversations take place on whatsapp messenger. we even leave voice messages for each other. it's not even like you have a quick conversation. you just leave a voice message,

but you're not building anything sustainable. so you're still going home at the end of the day lonely. reporter: she has to take a one-hour train journey to london for her customized cuddling sessions. loneliness is also a matter of physical health. studies indicate that loneliness can be as detrimental to your wellbeing as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. those findings prompted the british government to follow up on the recommendations of a special commission and add a new ministerial department, tasked with measuring social isolation and helping those afflicted by it. julianne: but also i think society is changing. and issues like social media, people working from home -- and not just from home, working from vans. perhaps there's less church, people have got less institutions. loneliness is not a niche issue. it's not a health issue. it's not anything else. this is about how we change our society. reporter: rebecca charges 65 pounds for a one-hour hug session, and has an average of three clients a day. robyn knows that others might be

skeptical, but the sessions help her, and she thinks they're worth it. robyn: in your head you've got that thing which is like, so are people going to think i'm mad? is it really sad that you actually have to pay to come and see someone? but it is pure. if you're nely, and it helps you. but yeah, unfortunately we don't all get what we want for free. reporter: and robyn is, of course, not alone in her isolation. the same commission reported that in the u.k. alone, nine million people are suffering from loneliness. host: loneliness is a big issue, and like many big issues, it's also proving a big business opportunity. like for the live-cam industry. one leading provider boasts up to 40 million visitors a day. estimates suggest that the global live-cam industry raked

in over 2.5 billion euros in 2016. and in poorer countries like romania, many young people are eager to get in on that cash. scott: hello, guys. how are you today? reporter: scott and arielle are waiting for customers. they're trying to entice rich americans who are just arriving home from work. once a customer has taken the bait and requested a private chat session, they can end up paying up to seven euros per minute. scott: y like my muscles? you want your customers to forget about what they actually want, so that they stay online longer. if they want to see your butt, you show it to them, but also engage them in a conversation. arielle: i tease the men. i dance, smile and flirt. that's how you earn the most money.

i talk to my customers, like on a first date. reporter: scott and arielle live in romania, one of the poorest countries in the eu, and home to europe's biggest sex-cam industry. over 5000 studios have sprung up in recent years. arielle: i tease the men. it's estimated that more than 200,000 romanians work in the adult live-cam business. 24-year-old arielle begins her day in the studio's own beauty salon. arielle: i try to be natural. i don't put on an act. i want to develop a relationship with my customers, to become friends. sometimes it's like being their psychologist. reporter: the manager shows us the plans for her company's fourth studio, and explains the industry's boom in romania. maria: i think the market is growing, every year with 10%, 15% of members. we have a ry good internet connection.

second of all, we have very smart girls, and they speak very good english. and then because we have beautiful women over here. this is the secret. reporter: arielle shows us around the chat rooms. she's given up on medical school. young doctors in romania earn 500 euros a month. a webcam model can earn over 25,000 euros a month. arielle: a lot of my customers work for big companies, and don't have time for dates and a family. that makes me the perfect solution, a consolation. sometimes they need a girlfriend, sometimes a lover. they tell me what th've had for dinner. sometimes they even cook for me in front of the camera. arielle: a lot of my customers i often get asked to masturbate. i tell them what i'm willing and not willing to do. reporter: we have to leave when she gets asked for a private

chat. laura also used to be webcam model, but she's ashamed of her past and doesn't want to be recognized. laura: masturbating in front of the camera all the time is degrading. but you do it for the money. fine, if you masturbate you can earn your first 1000 euros. that's a lot in romania. what other options are there? working in a supermarket for 200 euros? reporter: laura worked from home. her boyfriend made himself her pimp and would beat her. a harsh reality for many sex-cam models who don't make it big. laura: all the girls are vulnerable, especially if they into your life, find out what you do, get greedy and start to abuse you or blackmail you. reporter: instead of being a

major earner, laura gets just 300 euros a month from her parents, and has gone back to college. the government has largely turned a blind eye to the sex-chat industry. prostitution is illegal in romania, so the models are working in a legal gray zone, with no transparency. many studios bill themselves as call centers. ana tudorache would like to see laws brought in to regulate the booming sex-chat business. she owns a studio for male models. laws brought in to regulate the ana: some don't have the possibility to talk to friends. some don't want their secrets to be known by their acquaintances. some come because they're horny. reporter: as more studios open up, the competition for models

intensifies. ana: don't move the camera like this. reporter: scott started three months ago. ana: being more playful with the camera. reporter: he's receiving camera training and english lessons at the same time. scott has to give over a third of his earnings to the studio. but the former fitness trainer earns ten times what he used to. still, he doesn't tell anyone where he's working. scott: i thought about telling my parents the truth, but i'm afraid to. at first, it was hard to get naked because i didn't know how to keep my customers watching. but now, it'ok. at first, it w hard to get reporter: the sex-cam industry is keeping scott, arielle and their colleagues in romania. they are not part of the exodus that's hurting the country. e in five their genation s emigratebecause of the widespread poverty. arielle takes us to her new

apartmt. she s a boyfrid but he doesn't wa to be intviewed. they're afraid that revenues will drop if chat customers get jealous. arielle: i'm very proud that i have my own apartment at 24. i want to buy a car by the end of the year, and then later, i'll buy a house. that's my biggest dream. reporter: arielle doesn't want to live like her parents, working for decades, and then unable to afford anything. hundreds of thousands of young romanians desperate to avoid the poverty trap end up satisfying the desires of the wealthy. host: china's sex doll industry poverty trap end up satisfying is also all about providing much longed-for intimacy. but forgetlow-up rubr dolls. one of theorld's larst producers kitting i models out with aificial

intellence. thresult? compr eyes andrms, andven enga in sple convsation. and at about han emotis? compr wi roboticand articial intelligence one day be able ts t with artificial intelligence reeate thosetoo? reporter: in the future, will it be normal for humans to have sex with rots? here in barcelon dr. sergi santos is developing a new sex robot. he used to be a successful researcher in the fields of nanotech, biotech, and materials science. now he's using his knowledge to breathe life into silicone dolls. sergi: so i have an architecture of emotion. that was my core. i have a brain, i have the architecture of a brain that can express emotions in a given way that i thought. and then i thought, do i have a humanoid system? i found a humanoid system in the sex doll industry, and then i said, okay, now i need computers that are available, ready to assemble, and i need technology

that i can use to put all these together. reporter: the robot reacts to verbal and physical stimuli. santos has attached sensors to the doll's body. the sensor data is interpreted by the artificial brain. the robot then simulates various emotions, depending on how the user is talking to it or touching it. the robot can react in a friendly, romantic, or sexy fashion. although these robots are still in the beginning phase, scientists are already considering the consequences. the university of st. gallen, a training ground for future captains of industry. that sex with robots is an issue here is surprising. but ethics professor thomas beschorner is convinced that

digitization and robotics are important topics that don't stop when it comes to sexuality. surveys show that sex with robots is more than just a fetish. thomas: up to 40% of all men in europe can imagine having sex with a robot. somewhat fewer women are interested, but there's potential there, too. reporter: professor kathleen richardson is a vehement opponent of sex robots. kathleen: my name is kathleen richardson, and i'm the director of the campaign against sex robots. and i don't view human beings as objects. i don't see this as interchangeable, that you can replace a human with a machine and they'll do the same things, because i think human beings are different from things. reporter: martina mara is a robo-psychologist. she's also critical of tendencies in the sex robot industry. martina: it has to be said that

95% of the sex robots that are currently available on the market are female stereotypes, stereotypically passive. so on the one hand, they objectify the human, and often the female body. and on the other hand, these robots represent stereotypical relationship patterns, stereotypes that are then carried into the bedroom. sex robots are always a kind of slave. reporter: in barcelona, the first sex doll bordello has opened its doors to the public. experts agree, sex with robots is here to stay. will we develop feelings for these humano machines? thomas: my guess is that we will very quickly develop personal relationships with these devices. i'pretty sure that the people who will buy them will give them

names. they'll dress them up, buy them nice clothes, and they'll talk to them. reporter: sergi santos sells his responsive robots for a few thousand euros. but he's much more interested in its artificial brain, and what makes us human. santos: the sense of the self. responsive robots for a few thousand euros. who am i? why do i think i am myself? what makes me decide that this is me? this is one of the things that has always interested me. and that made me think of an architecture for a brain. host: mosquitoes are by far the most dangerous animals for humans on earth. up to a million people die each

year of mosquito-borne diseases ke zika, malaria, yell for fever, and dengue fever. according to the w.h.o., 390 million people a year contract dengue fever, a disease common in tropical and subtropical host: mosquitoes are by far the regions. brazil is among those countries particularly affected. our reporter robert richter went to rio de janeiro to meet some scientists tackling the plague by mobilizing the mosquitoes themselves. reporter: rio de janeiro is waking up. early morning is the best time to release mosquitoes. the ones in these cylinders have been bred in the laboratory and infect with a rtain kind of bacteria. wolbachia baeria preve the reication ofiruses in the mosqtoes that cause disease in humans. the longer-term plan of the scientists at the world mosquito prograis to infe wild mouitoes witwolbachia the longer-term plan of the scientisbacter as welld mosquito

gabriel: so, fighting against dengue is important to avoid people dying. so, we kw that eve time we ha an epidem in, like, tropical countries, we know that many, many people die because they have other problems, they ha other heah problems repoer: this iwhat a vecr of dgue fever oks like tropical cntries, we know that it's an aedes aegypti, and it's mobaby daughter luna.ylight. dengue is most dangerous int his infants ancan often ad to mplication an is pinng his hopeon the b-grown mouitoes. the 25ear-old is an ambassador for the world mosquito program anspends a l of time rsing aweness in h neighborhd.

the are ambaadors likeim in allhe regionshere re-engineered mosquitoes have been released. luan: ere has be resistanc in comnities becse people re-wanted to know why moreave mosquitoes were being released in that's uerstandabl ofe course. why introduce even more? whatreporter: but now they've mmuunderstood the point of replacing the natural population of disse-transmiing mosquies with genetically modified ones. dengue fever is debilitating. assad zidan has had it twice. ch time, iwas causedy a dierent stra of virus. sad: with ngue you gbilitating. assaheadacs and feveit twice. you can't eat and you have t throw .

everyoneround hereas had it. a, too. reporter: his sister amira had a bad case of chikungunya and took a long time to recover. she had a fever for days and suffered from joint pain for months. amira: dengue is preferable to she had chikunnya.r days and at's a disse you have to for respt. i wodn't wish on anyo. i'm terrifd of it. porter: thgoal of th ientists at th mosquitfarm to elimate mosqto-borne i'm terrdisease.t. this is where they infect the insects with wolbachia bacteria. the females are fed with blood disease. from conserves past their expiration date. the staff call the lab the mosquito factory. the workflows have been optimized so thaa maximumnumberd here. the females lay their eggs in war cups lin with pape

ey're recoizable as ack flks on the per. thegaiel: we lo them.develop into care abt them.quitoes. produce tm in a w that can survive the fie and th replacehe wild pulation for d does notransmit seases. reporti b, cylinrs are fled with the o bes, eventlly growing ngs.eporti 1.5 million mosquitoes are bred every week. when they are released, they go on to mate with the wild mosquito population, which carries disease viruses. the project was launch in septber 2014 wh three

scientists. 100 people work here today. luciano: at first dengue w the on problem. then we had zika coming, chikungunya. now yellow fever is ound, so yellow fev is not anrban disee since 1942, but it becomes one. there is potential for aedes ypti, the me vector uld ansmit ylow fevein citie which will be very complicated. reporter: one in five cases of yellow fever proves fatal. healthlinics arelready at bre. theris a yellofever vacce, but ly 60% of azilians a vaccinated. reporter: overcrowding is a serious problem in the favelas of rio. defective water tanks and overflowing rubbish dumps are ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

wthe mosquitoes take longer to. grow. even s it doesn'take gabri sylvese long to nd some larvae. gabriel: we should be warned about. ichikunnya, more read, like ha. we canave deng, zika, so it is even worse than to have just ding the suer. repoer: local op and hou owners do their bit for the project. the mosquito tra scattered abt the cityre emptied regulars later examined in the lab. thscientistsave establhed that in the ars where e infected mosquitoes have been released io the envinment, wolbachibacteria end up present in the bulk of the mouito populion. no the scientis have to wait until the next epidemic of mosquito-borne diseas in

humans to see if there is a reduction in infection rates in those areas. gabriel: every time when we go folike meeti inside acommuns ound, th say thathe heal clins, we arworking ose, they are reiving less cases than the other ones, where wolbachia is not established. reporter: the first positive results of a project that might eventually be introduced in cities aund the worl banishg dengue, zika, and chikungunya to the past. host: who cares out the ower indury's destrtive impact? >> i do. host: who cares about lgbt >> i do. host: who cares about homeless pele living on the streets of los angeles? >> i do. all: and that's why i follow dw global society. host: and that's all from us this week. we love hearinfrom you, though, so do write to us,

global3000@dw.com, or visit us on facebook, dw global society. see you next time. bye for now. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]