Post by ozgringo on Oct 27, 2016 0:55:18 GMT -5
Zika: Brazil, Colombia scale up 'revolutionary' bacteria fight against mosquitos' ability to spread virus
Health authorities in Colombia and Brazil are set to launch large-scale mosquito-control campaigns using a using naturally occurring bacteria known as Wolbachia to fight the spread of the Zika and dengue viruses among people.
Small-scale trials of the technique in Australia — which involves infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia to prevent them from spreading the viruses — have shown a significant reduction in their ability to transmit Zika and dengue, prompting donors to back scale-up plans.
The control campaigns, scheduled to begin early next year in Colombia's Antioquia and Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, will be funded with $US18 million ($23.52 million) from the British and United States governments, the Wellcome Trust global health charity, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Australian-led Eliminate Dengue Program found the way
Over the past decade, international researchers working with the Australian-led non-profit Eliminate Dengue Program (EDP) have found a way to transfer Wolbachia into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and get them to pass it on to their offspring.
Trevor Mundel, head of the Gates Foundation's global health division, said he hoped the large-scale campaigns had the potential to show Wolbachia as a "revolutionary form of protection against mosquito-borne disease".
"It's affordable, sustainable, and appears to provide protection against Zika, dengue, and a host of other viruses," he said in a statement.
"We're eager to study its impact and how it can help countries."
www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-27/brazil-and-colombia-to-scale-up-bacterial-fight-against-zika/7969606
Health authorities in Colombia and Brazil are set to launch large-scale mosquito-control campaigns using a using naturally occurring bacteria known as Wolbachia to fight the spread of the Zika and dengue viruses among people.
Small-scale trials of the technique in Australia — which involves infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia to prevent them from spreading the viruses — have shown a significant reduction in their ability to transmit Zika and dengue, prompting donors to back scale-up plans.
The control campaigns, scheduled to begin early next year in Colombia's Antioquia and Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, will be funded with $US18 million ($23.52 million) from the British and United States governments, the Wellcome Trust global health charity, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Australian-led Eliminate Dengue Program found the way
Over the past decade, international researchers working with the Australian-led non-profit Eliminate Dengue Program (EDP) have found a way to transfer Wolbachia into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and get them to pass it on to their offspring.
Trevor Mundel, head of the Gates Foundation's global health division, said he hoped the large-scale campaigns had the potential to show Wolbachia as a "revolutionary form of protection against mosquito-borne disease".
"It's affordable, sustainable, and appears to provide protection against Zika, dengue, and a host of other viruses," he said in a statement.
"We're eager to study its impact and how it can help countries."
www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-27/brazil-and-colombia-to-scale-up-bacterial-fight-against-zika/7969606