Surabaya – The Wolbachia mosquito has been proven to be a solution to control the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which carries dengue fever (DHF). It is also said that the Wolbachia mosquito is able to suppress dengue cases.
Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University (FK Unair), Prof Dr Dr Aryati MKes SpPK(K) said, Wolbachia is a natural bacteria. Gram negative bacteria are naturally found in butterflies, flies and bees.
“Wolbachia is a biological technology for controlling dengue fever mosquitoes. But the most famous Wolbachia content is in the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly,” said Prof Aryati, Wednesday (13/12/2023).
One of the Indonesian Ministry of Health’s Wolbachia Risk Study Expert Team since 2016 explained that wolbachia mosquitoes can produce different cycles when mating and can make mosquitoes sterile.
“Male Wolbachia mosquitoes that mate with female non-Wolbachia Aedes aegypti mosquitoes will not produce eggs that hatch. The mosquitoes become sterile, so they cannot produce offspring,” he explained.
Aryati revealed that after a long research process, there was a lot of evidence showing that the Wolbachia mosquito was able to reduce cases of dengue fever by up to 77.1 percent. In fact, cases of treatment for dengue fever in hospitals have decreased by 86 percent.
In this way, Aryati assured that the debate regarding the safety of the Wolbachia mosquito had been resolved. Wolbachia mosquitoes do contain bacteria, but cannot infect humans.
It is impossible for the bacteria to move, because the bacteria only reside in the mosquito’s body. “If bitten, it won’t cause humans to get sick,” he said.
He also said that the presence of the Wolbachia mosquito would not reduce the Aedes aegypti mosquito (which causes dengue fever). However, its presence can suppress the spread of the virus from the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“People don’t need to worry. If they are already bitten, it’s okay, because mosquito bacteria do not transfer to humans,” he concluded.
Watch the video “Ministry of Health says about the safety of the dengue fever control program via Wolbachia”
(esw/fat)
2023-12-13 06:26:47
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