Wolbachia against dengue (mosquito release in Cairns)
Wolbachia contra el dengue (liberación de mosquitos en Cairns)
- Date
- 2011 · confidence high
- Place
- Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- Credited to
- Scott O'Neill, Ary Hoffmann and the Eliminate Dengue Program (now World Mosquito Program)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia, which blocks dengue virus replication and is inherited maternally, was introduced into Aedes aegypti. After mosquitoes were released in two Cairns suburbs in 2011, the bacterium established itself in the wild population.
Hoffmann et al. published the Cairns results in Nature 2011; Wolbachia in mosquitoes was described in Culex in 1924 and dengue blocking and its potential use were shown in 2009 by McMeniman et al. and Moreira et al.
What it led to
- Yogyakarta (Indonesia) randomised trial with 77% less dengue (2017–2020)
- programmes in Brazil (Niterói), Colombia (Medellín) and Vietnam
- arbovirus control without insecticides or transgenic mosquitoes