The Controversy Surrounding Wolbachia Technology: Addressing Risks and Disinformation

Residents Think of Wolbachia as Bill Gates or Bionic Mosquitoes, Researcher: Systematic Disinformation. Photo: Image by FRANCO PATRIZIA from Pixabay.

A number of researchers and public figures have also responded to measures to control dengue cases using Wolbachia technology. Global Health Security researcher Dicky Budiman highlighted that Wolbachia technology against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which carries the dengue virus has certain risks. Along with global warming, hot temperatures will actually reduce the intensity of Wolbachia.

“For example in Wolbachia. The effect of global warming in a research paper, that this hot temperature is for Wolbachia as a medium blocking pathogens decrease. “Because of the hot temperature, the incubation period for mosquitoes that bite the virus is shorter,” explained Dicky Health Liputan6.comwritten Wednesday, November 15 2023.

“This is what ended up not chase with Wolbachia. Continuously hot temperatures reduce the intensity of Wolbachia. “What we know is that the amount of Wolbachia needed is large enough to effectively block viral replication.”

Dicky emphasized that the application of Wolbachia in Indonesia should not only involve one expertise, but also various branches of science or science multibackground.

“The monitoring mechanism, scrutinizing this research and the risk of mutation increases so this is not completely reliable,” he added.

“That’s why, in context public health“, 3M for dengue fever, namely draining, closing, recycling must still be the main strategy implemented apart from things like this (Wolbachia), which are still waiting for the next 20-30 years.”

Meanwhile, former WHO Director of Infectious Diseases, Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, who also observed the Ministry of Health’s efforts to suppress dengue cases, said that this program cannot stand alone. According to him, controlling the Dengue virus using Wolbachia technology in mosquitoes needs to be part of a larger program.

“This program certainly cannot stand alone,” said Tjandra on June 1, 2023.

Tjandra believes that the use of Wolbachia mosquitoes to prevent the spread of the Dengue virus will be more effective if it is part of an integrated mosquito control approach.

“The use of Wolbachia will be more effective if it is determined as part of a complete program called an ‘integrated mosquito management (IMM) approach’ or an integrated mosquito control approach.”

This approach includes five things, namely mosquito surveillance, using larvicides and insecticides, educating the public about how to control mosquitoes around their homes, cleaning their homes, and monitoring the impact of existing programs on the number of mosquitoes circulating.

Tjandra explained that releasing mosquitoes with Wolbachia, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was not intended to stop disease outbreaks.

“The use of mosquitoes with Wolbachia in residential environments for several months is expected to reduce the number of certain types of mosquitoes, for example Aedes Aegypti.”

Most recently, Tjandra also highlighted that dengue cases have not clearly decreased in Singapore even though the Wolbachia project in the country has been started since 2016. In early September 2023, Singapore’s National Environmental Agency (NEA) warned that the country might experience an increase in cases. Again. Its weekly report shows several hundred cases, with more than 50 active clusters occurring.

On the other hand, in several Wolbachia research areas such as Tampines, Yishun and Choa Chu Kang, the population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes fell by 98 percent and dengue cases by 88 percent, as explained by member of Parliament Baey Yam Ken.

Tjandra believes that it would be better if there were developments in WHO’s official opinion regarding Wolbachia in 2023.

2023-11-20 17:00:09
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