Companies partner to release anti-dengue mosquitoes in the Caribbean – La Nación

Amid a record number of dengue cases, private companies have partnered to release anti-dengue mosquitoes in some Caribbean countries.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — Two private companies announced Friday that they have partnered to release mosquitoes in the Caribbean infected with a bacteria that blocks the dengue virus, as the region sees a record number of cases.Orbit Services Partners Inc., a company registered in Barbados , has partnered with Verily, a San Francisco-based health technology company. The companies have met with government officials in the region in hopes of launching the project early next year, said Orbit director Anthony Da Silva.

The project countries would be Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin (Netherlands), Saint Martin, Suriname, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Similar projects have been carried out with the Wolbachia bacteria in other parts of the world. Mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia in a laboratory and released into the environment, where they transmit it to their offspring. The bacteria prevents the replication of the dengue virus in the mosquito’s body.

Da Silva said the idea for the partnership was launched three years ago, but the pandemic intervened. The approval of the project is pending in the different Caribbean countries.

American and Caribbean countries have reported more than 4 million cases of dengue this year, the highest number since records have been kept since 1980.