wolbachia

Jakarta (ANTARA) – In the midst of a spike in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DBD) cases that threaten the safety of residents, the DKI Jakarta Regional Government has launched a bold step by releasing the Aedes aegypti mosquito with Wolbachia.

This strategy is considered to be not only an attempt, but it gives new hope to millions of people in the capital city to fight against the deadly threat posed by mosquito bites that transmit the dengue virus. With the Wolbachia mosquito, DKI is determined to stop the dengue cycle and usher in a new era of safer and healthier living for all communities.

DKI Jakarta Regional Health Service Chief, Drg Ani Ruspitawati, MM, explained that a fairly high spike in dengue cases occurred around March to May 2024. In fact, as of September this year, Jakarta had more than 12,000 dengue cases to register.

Therefore, the program to release the Aedes aegypti mosquito with wolbachia is one of the innovations carried out by the health service, according to the Order of the Minister of Health (KMK) Number 1341 regarding the implementation of wolbachia as an innovation for control to keep dengue. .

The plan is for this activity to take place on October 4th. The release point starts from RW7, Kembangan Utara Village, Kembangan District, West Jakarta.

Ani said that West Jakarta was chosen as the first area considering the high number of dengue fever cases compared to other areas in Jakarta.

Get to know wolbachia

The Director of the Center for Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing (FKKMK), Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Dr. Riris Andono Ahmad, MPH, PhD, explained that wolbachia bacteria are bacteria that lives in insect cells and has natural properties.

Wolbachia lives in a variety of insects, such as flies, mosquitoes, butterflies and dragonflies. The reproductive methods of these insects can affect the bacteria or vice versa.

Therefore, explaining that when a male insect containing Wolbachia mates with a female insect that does not have Wolbachia, the eggs will not hatch. Therefore, this effort can control the mosquito population.

Then, if the female bug has Wolbachia or if both bugs have Wolbachia, the bacteria will be passed on to her children.

If the seeds are introduced into the population, eventually the entire population contains wolbachia.

When these bacteria are in the body of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the bacteria can prevent the reproduction of the dengue virus in the mosquito’s body.

So, the virus seems to work like a vaccine. If wolbachia is present in almost every mosquito population, the ability of the mosquitoes to transmit the dengue virus will be reduced.

Responding to concern

Experts emphasize that because the bacteria can only live in insect cells, it will not affect other animals or people. Because if it is to be transmitted, the bacteria must get out of the cell, but if Wolbachia gets out of the insect cell the bacteria will die.

Therefore, the bacteria are safe to use in an effort to reduce cases of dengue virus transmission.

Therefore, experts guarantee that the cultivation of these bacteria is a safe technology, an environmentally friendly technology and a sustainable technology. On the other hand, if you use chemicals, of course the effect is not environmentally friendly and unsustainable.

According to research, there are differences between areas where mosquitoes carry Wolbachia and those where they are not.

It turns out, according to experts, that the reduction in dengue cases in areas spread by the Wolbachia mosquito has reached 77 percent. In addition, there was also a reduction in the need for hospital admission by up to 86 percent.

By reducing the need for patient care, the state can also save the budget that was directed to BPJS health.

Method of distribution

DKI Jakarta Health Service has provided 800 foster parents (OTA), which are houses that contain buckets containing Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs that contain Wolbachia.

The Acting Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Department of DKI Jakarta Health Office, Maryati Kasiman, explained that OTAs must protect the buckets containing the eggs until they hatch, so that the mosquito population is as expected.

Later, in the OTA’s house there will be a bucket containing the eggs of the Wolbachia eedes aegypti mosquito. This bucket is relatively small, similar to a chocolate jelly container and is prohibited during larval monitoring of mosquito nest elimination (PSN) to suppress dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).

The health department has also made a map of the places where the buckets will be planted. Every 50 by 50 square meters, buckets containing mosquito eggs are placed.

The egg laying process takes about two weeks. After that, the foster parents are again given buckets containing wolbachia mosquito eggs. This will be done continuously for six months.

However, the success of this program cannot be seen immediately as it takes longer. It is estimated that the benefits of this innovation will be felt for about two years.

Hope

DKI Jakarta DPRD member Elva Farhi Qolbina expressed hope that the implementation of Aedes aegypti mosquito that contains wolbachia could reduce the spread of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases in the Jakarta area.

Therefore, the legislative community encourages the DKI Jakarta Health Service to closely monitor the spread of the test of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that contain wolbachia.

On the other hand, one of the residents, that is Giga (25), admitted that he agreed with this effort. Because of that, he has read various information, such as that Singapore has succeeded in reducing 90 percent of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population.

For this reason, the government continues to raise public awareness about the Aedes aegypti mosquito carrying Wolbachia. In this way, the public becomes more educated and understands, and then supports the use of this new method for the benefit of the whole community.