Generales

On May 26, PECET researchers will release a batch of Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in suburbs of Medellín as part of a strategy to control Dengue virus. This bacterium has been proven effective in preventing the transmission of dengue fever.

Wolbachia pipientis bacterium, which infects about 70 percent of all insect species, is being used by a team of Australian researchers as a way to kill Aedes aegytpi mosquitoes that account for most dengue fever virus transmission. Trials being conducted in several locations in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, have shown to be effective in controlling the spread of mosquitoes.

The Program for the Study and Control of Tropical Diseases at Universidad de Antioquia (PECET) and Australia-based Monash University will conduct trials to demonstrate the effects of the Wolbachia bacterium in shortening the mosquitoes’ lifespans.

“The lifespan of infected mosquitoes is around 30 days and dengue fever takes approximately 10-12 days to incubate in mosquitoes. Shortening the mosquito’s lifespan to 15 days could dramatically reduce dengue virus transmission,” says PECET director Ivan Velez.

Besides reducing the mosquito’s lifespan, the bacterium also makes it immune against the virus thereby preventing the spread of the disease.

PECET researchers await approval from Colombia’s Ministry of Health to use Wolbachia-infected eggs so that they can be released into the wild in some areas of the country at risk of epidemic dengue.

Wolbachia pipientis bacterium, which is known to be harmless to humans, has proven to be a very effective tool for controlling dengue fever, an infectious disease that continues to lack effective prevention and treatment.