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Brazil releases 'good' mosquitoes to fight Dengue fever
Topic Started: 24 Sep 2014, 11:35 PM (38 Views)
skibboy
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24 September 2014

Brazil releases 'good' mosquitoes to fight Dengue fever

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The project "Eliminate the dengue: Challenge Brazil" by state Brazilian laboratory Fiocruz released about 10,000 mosquitoes infected with a dengue blocking bacteria

Brazilian researchers in Rio de Janeiro have released thousands of mosquitoes infected with a bacteria that suppresses Dengue fever.

The hope is they will multiply, breed and become the majority of mosquitoes, thus reducing cases of the disease.

The initiative is part of a programme also taking place in Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The intercellular bacteria, Wolbachia, being introduced cannot be transmitted to humans.

The programme started in 2012 says Luciano Moreira of the Brazilian research institute Fiocruz, who is leading the project in Brazil .

"Our teams performed weekly visits to the four neighbourhoods in Rio being targeted. Mosquitoes were analysed after collection in special traps.

"Transparency and proper information for the households is priority. "

Ten thousands mosquitoes will be released each month for four months with the first release in Tubiacanga, in the north of Rio.

'Good' bacteria

The bacteria Wolbachia is found in 60% of insects.

It acts like a vaccine for the mosquito which carries Dengue, Aedes Aegypti, stopping the Dengue virus multiplying in its body.

Wolbachia also has an effect on reproduction.

If a contaminated male fertilises the eggs of a female without the bacteria, these eggs do not turn into larvae.

If the male and female are contaminated or if only a female has the bacteria, all future generations of mosquito will carry Wolbachia.

As a result, Aedes mosquitoes with Wolbachia become predominant without researchers having to constantly release more contaminated insects.

In Australia this happened within 10 weeks on average.

The research on Wolbachia began at the University of Monash in Australia in 2008.

The researchers allowed the mosquitoes to feed on their own arms for five years because of concerns at the time Wolbachia could infect humans and domestic animals.

Three more neighbourhoods will be targeted next, and large scale studies to evaluate the effect of the strategy are planned for 2016.

Dengue re-emerged in Brazil in 1981 after an absence of more than 20 years.

Over the next 30 years, seven million cases were reported.

Brazil leads the world in the number of Dengue cases, with 3.2 million cases and 800 deaths reported in the 2009-2014 period.

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skibboy
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04 May 2015

Dengue cases soar in Brazil, as death toll climbs

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© USDA/AFP/File

SAO PAULO (AFP) - Cases of dengue have soared in Brazil where the disease has caused 229 fatalities this year, the Health Ministry said Monday, as authorities try to combat its spread using transgenic mosquitos.

The health ministry said it had logged 745,900 cases nationwide in the first 15 weeks of the year -- an annual increase of 234 percent.

That equates to 367.8 people infected per 100,000 residents, which falls into the category of an epidemic under parameters used by the World Health Organization.

The number of dengue deaths has climbed 44 percent from the same period last year, and most of the diagnosed cases have occurred in business hub Sao Paulo.

In all, Sao Paulo has seen 169 fatalities and 401,564 cases this year -- a high since records began in 1990.

Cases of the mosquito-borne infectious tropical disease increased in the wake of a serious drought last year, the worst in living memory.

Severe water shortages led residents to store what they could in open receptacles, which facilitated the spread of dengue.

Last Thursday the city of Piracicaba, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Sao Paulo, released its first batch of 100,000 transgenic male mosquitos in reaction to the growing crisis.

The genetically modified mosquitos pass on a modified gene during procreation that makes offspring incapable of reaching sexual maturity, causing the overall population to decline steadily.

Piracicaba authorities and British firm Oxitec last year opened a facility at Campinas, near Sao Paulo, able to produce 550,000 modified mosquitoes weekly.

Dengue symptoms include severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting and circulatory system failure.

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