Experts use ‘Volpachia’ bacteria to breed ‘good mosquitoes’ against dengue

To address the growing problem of dengue fever, Indonesian researchers have turned to breeding “good mosquitoes” using bacteria that control the number of mosquitoes that cause dengue fever. This may seem paradoxical, but experts plan to inject Wolbachia bacteria into mosquitoes because the microbe is said to disinfect insects. Previously, this method had proven successful in Australia, where researchers found a significant reduction in the number of dengue-causing mosquitoes.

Wolbachia – Game changer bacteria

Named bacteria WolfachiaAccording to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), it can prove to be a game-changer in eradicating dengue fever. In Indonesia, the researchers followed the same path as the Australians, in that they carried mosquitoes. Wolbachia, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, carries the disease. According to a report TechLive, said social worker World Mosquito Project (WMP).

“In principle, we breed ‘good’ mosquitoes. The dengue-carrying mosquito will mate with the Wolbachia-carrying mosquito, which will produce the Wolbachia mosquito – the ‘good’ mosquito. So even if they bite people, it won’t infect them.”

Currently, 100-400 million dengue infections are reported annually, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that nearly half of the world’s population is at risk due to its rapid increase over the last decade. This experiment in Indonesia follows in the footsteps of Australian researchers who achieved excellent results using the same technique.

Research in Australia

The study on the use of bacteria in mosquitoes was jointly carried out by CSIRO, University of Queensland, Verily Life Sciences, QIMR Bergofer Medical Research Institute and James Cook University. As part of the project, researchers released nearly 3 million male mosquitoes in 2018, which were disinfected with Wolbachia bacteria at three test sites in Queensland over a 20-week period. During the study, female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes bred with sterilized male mosquitoes and then produced eggs, which failed to hatch.

In addition, experts have found that the number of mosquitoes at the test site has fallen by 80 to 97 percent in a year. CSIRO further revealed that this method can also be used to destroy the Asian tiger mosquito which transmits the virus, Aedes albopictus and Zika virus and Aedes aegypti which carries the yellow fever virus.

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