Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes to be released in Selangor to curb dengue

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry will release mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia micro-organism in an identified area in Selangor to see its impact on reducing dengue cases in the country, said minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said the pilot project was to understand the "behaviour" of the disease-transmitting mosquito species, and would be continued in other areas in the coming weeks.  

The method was introduced in January last year by the Institute for Medical Research in collaboration with Lancaster University, United Kingdom, he said.

 

"Based on the study, we will decide whether it's useful to do it in other areas in the country," Dr Subramaniam told a press conference at his ministry here Monday.  

Last year, Bernama reported quoting Health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as saying that injecting the Wolbachia micro-organism into the Aedes Aegypti mosquito eggs was seen as a method to prevent the spread of the dengue virus among humans.  

He said the eggs did not carry the dengue virus and thus prevented the spread of the disease.     

"The Wolbachia will block the dengue virus from replicating within the mosquito," Dr Noor Hisham was quoted as saying.  

Wolbachia is a micro-organism that lives naturally in the reproductive organs of insects and exists in about 60% of insects except the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. - Bernama