K V Venkatasubramanian,
Mosquitoes infected with a naturally-occurring bacterium, called Wolbachia, drastically reduce their ability to transmit dengue, a study shows.
The research, conducted by the World Mosquito Program (WPM), could open the way for eliminating the disease.
Scientists injected mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a bacterium that prevents them from spreading the virus, and released millions of them in Yogyakarta city in Indonesia.
Dengue incidence was reduced by a staggering 77% among persons who lived in a Wolbachia-treated area compared to those who lived in an untreated area during 27 months of the trial.
Mosquitoes pick up viruses by biting infected people. When they bite again, they can transmit the virus to the next person. This is how mosquito-borne diseases spread. Mosquitoes do not naturally carry viruses–they can only get them from infected people. Since only female mosquitoes bite humans, they alone can transmit viruses. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the main transmitter of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses.
Dengue fever is now considered the most critical mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. The fever is caused by a virus that is spread from person to person by blood-sucking mosquitoes. It is also the most rapidly spreading.
About half of the world’s population is now at risk. Found mostly in tropical parts of the developing world, dengue infects around 400 million people annually, according to WHO. In the worst cases, people develop “dengue hemorrhagic fever”, which kills up to 25,000 people a year worldwide.
WPM Director, Scott O’Neill says, “We have evidence our Wolbachia method is safe, sustainable and reduces incidence of dengue. Now we can scale this intervention across cities.”Results of the AWED trial (Applying Wolbachia to Eliminate Dengue) will be presented at an international scientific congress in November. The results are expected to be published in a journal by late 2020 or early 2021.
