Fiocruz (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz) and WMP (World Mosquito Program) signed a partnership that will increase the country’s access to mosquitoes with Wolbachia, a method that reduces the incidence of dengue, chikungunya and zika through the implantation of the bacteria — which receives the same name of the method — in insects, preventing the transmission of diseases.
The announcement was made this Thursday (30), in Brasilia, to health authorities in the country and global and local leaders of the WMP.
The Wolbachia method, which is financed by the Ministry of Health in Brazil, will be expanded, with the construction of a factory, with an undetermined location, which will have the capacity to produce 100 million mosquitoes weekly. The forecast is that the industry will start operating in early 2024.
“We will be able to expand our operations in Brazil and protect many more people in the coming years”, said Fiocruz researcher and leader of WMP Brazil, Luciano Moreira, in an official note.
Scott O’Neill, CEO of WMP Global, said at the event that the Brazilian provision on the method can help over 129 countries that suffer from diseases such as dengue.
Wolbachia Method
The Wolbachia method was discovered by scientists from Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia, and by the coordinator of the Program in Brazil, Luciano Moreira, a researcher at Fiocruz, and consists of introducing the bacterium of the same name to the method in mosquitoes.
Wolbachia is found naturally in about 50% of all insect species and prevents the transmission of arboviruses, and its success is due to the way it manipulates the reproduction of insects that are already infected by it.
Thus, the reproduction of mosquitoes that have Wolbachia transmits the bacteria to new generations, increasing the number of insects that have it and reducing the incidence of dengue, zika and chikungunya.