KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) — Scientists have reported an effective and environmentally sustainable way to block the transmission of the mosquito-borne dengue virus, in field trials carried out in Malaysia. Wolbachia, a widespread bacterial symbiont of insects, has emerged as a viable tool to control Aedes borne diseases.
Using a strain of the bacteria Wolbachia, which inhibits mosquitoes from transmitting viruses to human, researchers at the Medical Entomology Unit, Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH), together with the Universities of Glasgow (UK) and Melbourne (Australia) were successfully able to reduce cases of dengue at dengue hotspot sites in the state of Selangor. Their data, published on 21 November 2019 in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, shows that mosquitoes carrying the wAlbB strain of Wolbachia, when released into the environment, had the effect of reducing the incidence of dengue cases by at least 40%. Besides dengue, the wAlbB strain of Wolbachia is also effective in blocking transmission of other mosquito borne viruses including Zika and chikungunya.
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