The results of the trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine said that five million mosquito eggs infected with Wolbachia were released in the Yogyakarta area, Indonesia. Eggs are placed in buckets of water in the city every two weeks and the process of building a population of infected mosquitoes takes nine months.
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The results of that trial showed a decrease of about 77% in cases DBD and an 86% reduction in people requiring hospitalization. “It’s very exciting, this result is better than we expected,” Dr Katie Anders told the BBC on Thursday (10/6/2021).
Dr Anders says the technique is so successful that mosquitoes have been released all over the city. The project was extended to the surrounding area with the aim of eradicating dengue fever in the region.
Wolbachia bacteria do not harm mosquitoes, but they live in the same parts of their bodies where the dengue virus enters. The bacteria compete for resources and make the dengue virus more difficult to replicate, so mosquitoes are less likely to cause infection when biting.
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Mosquito-borne Wolbachia are highly manipulative and can alter the fertility of their hosts to ensure they are passed on to the next generation of mosquitoes. This means that once Wolbachia is established, it will last a long time in mosquitoes and continue to protect against dengue infection.
This is in stark contrast to other control methods such as fogging or releasing large numbers of sterile male mosquitoes.
Dr Yudiria Amelia, head of disease prevention in Yogyakarta City, said she was pleased with the results of this trial. “We hope that this method can be applied in all areas of Yogyakarta and further expanded in all cities in Indonesia,” he said.
The trial is an important milestone after years of research because the species of mosquito that spreads dengue – Aedes aegypti – is not usually infected with Wolbachia.
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David Hamer, professor of global health and medicine at Boston University, said the method has “interesting potential” for other diseases such as Zika, yellow fever and chikungunya which are both spread by mosquito bites.
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