Dengue or dengue fever has increased dramatically in the last twenty years, even outside tropical regions. The disease is transmitted by mosquitoes. Researchers now report that they have reduced dengue by 77 percent in an Indonesian city by infecting mosquitoes with a bacteria.
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Scientists of the World Mosquito Program (WMP) infected 5 million mosquito eggs with a bacterium of the genus Wolbachia. The eggs were released in 12 sectors of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, the capital of a massively dengue-plagued province. The other 12 sectors of the city received none.
The results of the experiment – which lasted three years – are spectacular. Value Wolbachiamosquitoes were used, the number of dengue cases decreased by 77 percent. The number of hospital admissions due to dengue even fell by 86 percent. ‘Better than we could hope for, to be honest’, let Katie Anders, one of the researchers, resigned from the British broadcaster BBC. The study appeared today in the scientific journal The New England Journal of Medicine.
The WMP now hopes to use its method in other sensitive regions. The technique could also offer a solution for yellow fever, Zika virus and chikungunya – transmitted by the same mosquito.
Bacteria makes mosquito more resistant to virus
The bacterium does not make the mosquito sick, but rather makes it less susceptible to the dengue virus. The method therefore does not focus on exterminating the mosquito, so that it does not affect the existing ecosystem. In addition, the Wolbachiabacteria very useful in conquering the mosquito population. A one-off action is therefore sufficient for a sustainable result. The WMP insists that the bacterium is safe for humans, other animals or the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut2UxF5gEDI
Dengue or dengue fever owes its name to the severe joint pains associated with the disease. the dengue mosquito, Anopheles aegypti, transmits the dengue virus from person to person, mainly in the tropical regions of Latin America, Africa and especially Asia.
Due to climate change, the area where mosquitoes thrive is expanding. In 2010, the disease made a brief appearance in France and Croatia, and in 2012, the island of Madeira experienced an outbreak of the disease that affected some 2,000 people, according to the World Health Organization WHO.
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