Wolbachia: The Potential Prevention to Dengue Mozzies
Dengue records close to 390 million cases across the world according to the World Health Organisation out of which 96 million cases are demonstrated clinically. Every year since 1981, Australia and in particular, Northern Queensland reported over 1,000 Dengue Virus cases.
As of 2019 however, scientists from the World Mosquito Program declared Cairns to be free of Dengue Virus since they began their mission to eradicate it in 2011.
They used a method called Wolbachia. How many cases does it take for a region to become vulnerable to a virus? What is the Wolbachia method and how does it work against the Dengue Virus?
Dengue is a prevailing vector-borne and arbovirus disease that is transmitted to a human via a mosquito upon getting bitten. Vectors of utmost concern are mosquitoes and the Dengue Virus (DENV) falls under other flavivirus’ alongside the Murray Valley encephalitis, Kunjin Virus, Yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis.
An individual affected by the virus shows symptoms of sudden fever, intense headache, muscle and joint pain, loss of appetite and red rashes among others. The dominant mosquito vector to this virus is the Aedes Aegypti and the virus consists of four different serotypes – Serotype 1, Serotype 2, Serotype 3 and Serotype 4. Once infected, a person becomes immune to that specific type of virus but this does not rule out getting infected by other types of the virus.
