Plans to use bacteria to defeat dengue in the Pacific

DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – March 12, 2018, “Monash University’s World Mosquito Programme says wolbachia bacteria can stop mosquitoes from spreading dengue and other diseases like chikungunya and zika.

“The programme director of impact assessment, Professor Cameron Simmons, said wolbachia was a naturally occurring bacteria and once transmitted to the aedes aegypti mosquito it stopped them getting the infections and spreading them among humans.

“He said the not-for-profit agency had already proven the use of wolbachia is successful in far northern Queensland and he is confident it will eliminate the dengue threat in the Pacific.

“The experience from North Queensland is that so far, in communities where wolbachia has been established they have been dengue free for the last 6 or 7 years.

“And so our expectations are very high that once established our technology is going to provide years of protection for communities in the Western Pacific from these viral diseases.” Copyright: RNZI   (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT