Suara.com – Case dengue fever dengue (DBD) of Yogyakarta down 77 percent. The cause is none other than that mosquito which contains bacteria Wolbachia.
With VOA Indonesia, Principal Researcher at the World Mosquito Program (WMP) Yogyakarta, Prof. Adi Utarini called this an encouraging research result.
“There was a 77 percent reduction in cases of dengue, in the intervention areas where the Aedes aegypti mosquito was wolbachia. The meaning of this 77 percent figure, if we think in terms of infectious diseases, is very significant. This is a tremendous decrease,” said Adi Utarini. in an official explanation session to the media in Yogyakarta, Wednesday (26/8).
Wolbachia are bacteria that live naturally in about 60-70 percent of insects, but are not found in the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
A researcher from Australia found that wolbachia can cut off the replication of the dengue virus, so it cannot be transmitted by mosquitoes.
Another advantage, mosquitoes that have wolbachia will pass the bacteria to the next generation.
WMP Yogyakarta itself is a collaboration between the World Mosquito Program-Monash University, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and the Tahija Foundation.
Since 2011, experts have worked together on the project that was originally called the Eliminate Dengue Project (EDP). After laboratory studies, the release on a small scale began in 2014.
WMP then continued its program of spreading wolbachia in 2017 through a randomized controlled rrial (RCT) technique. This study targeted 35 of 45 urban villages in Yogyakarta City with a population of 312 thousand people.
24 areas in Yogyakarta City and Bantul District were randomly selected, with twelve receiving Wolbachia intervention and the rest not.
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