Mosquitoes infected with parasitic bacteria turned out to dramatically reduce the epidemic of infectious diseases
In recent years, methods of interfering with mosquito reproduction have been studied to reduce mosquito-borne infections. A new experiment was conducted to investigate how mosquitoes infected with bacteria that interfere with mosquito reproduction and those that do not are released to different areas to affect the outbreak of infectious diseases. The results showed that infecting mosquitoes with bacteria provided a 77% protection against infectious diseases.
Efficacy of Wolbachia-Infected Mosquito Deployments for the Control of Dengue | NEJM
Randomised Controlled Trial | World Mosquito Program
https://www.worldmosquitoprogram.org/en/randomized-control-trial-rct
Mosquitoes are said to be 'the most deadly organisms in history' because they carry many pathogens such as malaria and dengue fever . For this reason, it has been pointed out that it is important to take measures against mosquitoes in order to fight diseases, and in recent years, large-scale experiments have been conducted to genetically manipulate mosquitoes.
In addition, an experiment was conducted to reduce mosquitoes by releasing mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia by utilizing the fact that when a male mosquito infected with a parasitic bacterium called Wolbachia is mated with a female mosquito not infected with Wolbachia, no offspring will be born. I am. You can read the detailed mechanism of the experiment from the following.
Succeeded in eradicating mosquitoes with the parasitic bacterium 'Wolbachia' --GIGAZINE
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on June 10, 2021 reports the results of a large-scale experiment conducted in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The research team released a herd of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in 12 randomly selected areas of Yogyakarta, and another group of non-Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in 12 randomly selected areas. I did a randomized controlled trial. Mosquitoes were released between March and December 2017. Then, between January 8, 2018 and March 18, 2020, the research team screened 54,000 patients at a government-run primal care clinic, with more than 8,000 participants in the study. I registered as. And, of these, 6306 people were analyzed for 'how much mosquitoes transmitted the disease'.
Of the 6306 people analyzed, 2905 lived in 12 areas where Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were released, and the remaining 3401 lived in control areas. The median age of the study participants is 11.8 years.
As a result, 2.3% of the inhabitants of the area where Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were released developed dengue fever, compared with 9.4% of the inhabitants of the control group. In other words, it has a 77.1% protective effect. The difference in hospitalization rates related to dengue fever was even more pronounced, with 0.4% of the population in the area releasing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes and 3% in the control group.
The research team states that the study 'shows the potential of Wolbachia to prevent infections.'
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