FK-KMK UGM. Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Population Health (BEPH), Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing (FK-KMK), Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) held a Guest Lecture entitled The Public Health Impact of Wolbachia-Infected Aedes aegypti in Reducing Dengue: Evidence from World Mosquito Site Program. This activity was held on Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at the FK-KMK UGM Auditorium.
This Guest Lecture was given by Katie Anders, M.Sc., Ph.D. as the Director of Impact Assessment at the World Mosquito Program (WMP) and was guided by dr. Citra Indriani, MPH as a lecturer in the Department of BEPH. On this occasion, Dr. Anders shared a lecture with the theme “Scaling up the implementation of Wolbachia mosquito release for sustainable control of dengue fever and other arboviral diseases”.
In this lecture session, Dr. Anders explained that dengue fever or commonly known as Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is one of the infections that is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. This disease is one of the global health threats according to the World Health Organization (WHO) with more than 4 billion people in 120 countries at risk of DHF infection. Not only carrying DHF, Aedes aegypti also carries various other infectious diseases such as chikungunya, zika, and yellow fever or yellow fever.
Anders said that the approach to overcome DHF and other arbovirus infections can be done by controlling the vector, namely Aedes aegypti, one of which is by spraying. However, this does not last long because once the effect of the spraying wears off, the number of Aedes aegypti will increase again. Therefore, a new approach is needed to overcome this problem, one of which is by using Wolbachia bacteria.
“Wolbachia is a bacteria that is endosymbiotic in insects, and does not harm mosquitoes, humans, animals, or the environment,” said Dr. Anders. Wolbachia is injected into the eggs of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes so that the mosquitoes that hatch carry the bacteria naturally and reduce their ability to spread the virus.
Dr. Anders also said that one of the advantages of this method is its sustainability. Unlike insecticide spraying which is only temporarily effective, mosquitoes containing Wolbachia can reduce virus transmission continuously because the bacteria are inherited from one generation to the next.
This solution has been proven effective in reducing dengue fever and other arbovirus infections. Research shows that Wolbachia can suppress the spread of dengue fever, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses by reducing the potential for infection in mosquitoes, reducing the dissemination of infection, reducing the potential for transmission, and extending the incubation period of the virus or extrinsic incubation period (EIP). This Wolbachia-based approach is a new hope in controlling diseases carried by Aedes aegypti, especially in endemic areas such as Indonesia. (Reporter: Fauziah Nurhasanah)
