Rindi Salsabilla, CNBC Indonesia
Lifestyle
Friday, 11/24/2023 21:30 WIB
Photo: Illustration of a Mosquito (Image by mika mamy from Pixabay)
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes RI) sent around 60 thousand Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs containing Wolbachia bacteria for breeding in Bandung City, West Java. This is one of the latest innovations to reduce the number of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases.
Launching from CNN Indonesiathe Bandung City Health Service (Dinkes) said that 60 thousand Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs containing Wolbachia in 308 buckets were given to Pasanggrahan Village, Ujungberung District.
“We entrust the eggs to hatch. So, if there are 308 buckets left in the sub-district, one bucket can contain 200 to 250 Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs with Wolbachia,” said Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Bandung City Health Office, Ira Dewi Jani , quoted Friday (24/11/2023).
However, Ira cannot confirm the number of eggs that will hatch because they are still in the assistance stage by the Vector Laboratory from Salatiga, Central Java. According to him, the number of eggs that hatch depends on a number of situations.
“We don’t know yet, right? There has been no evaluation of the many eggs that have successfully hatched because they are still being assisted by the Vector Lab from Salatiga,” said Ira.
“The hope is that they will all hatch, but it depends on the storage location and the weather. So, it is not always certain how many will hatch from each bucket,” he continued.
Ira said that the impact of reducing the number of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases thanks to Wolbachia mosquitoes took quite a long time, namely one to two years from release.
How mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia reduce the number of dengue cases
Quoting the official website of the Ministry of Health, wolbachia itself is a bacteria that can only live in the bodies of insects, including mosquitoes. When Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia, they become sterile. As a result, mosquitoes containing wolbachia are no longer able to transmit the dengue virus when they suck people’s blood. Thus, naturally the number of dengue cases will also decrease.
In Indonesia, buckets containing Wolbachia-infected mosquito eggs are stored for six months in the hope that some eggs will hatch every month. After the egg hatches it will be replaced with a new egg.
“After six months of release, it is hoped that the proportion of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia in the city of Bandung can reach 60 percent, in nature and in the environment,” explained Ira.
“The rest will take place naturally by mating between mosquitoes in nature. And that will only have an impact a year or two after the first mosquitoes are released into the wild,” he continued.
For information, the city of Bandung is one of the areas in the program for spreading Wolbachia mosquitoes because it has been ranked first in dengue fever cases for three years in a row.
“So if we look at the data on dengue fever cases in the Ministry of Health, it is true that from 2021, 2022, 2023, the city of Bandung is in first place for the most dengue fever cases for three years in a row,” explained Ira.
Apart from Bandung City, the Indonesian Ministry of Health has determined four other areas to be included in the trial for the spread of Wolbachia mosquitoes, namely Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara; Bontang, East Kalimantan; Semarang, Central Java; and West Jakarta, DKI Jakarta.
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2023-11-24 14:30:52
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