Across several continents, infecting mosquitoes with bacteria results in dramatic drops in dengue illness, trials show
The number of people infected by dengue and at least one related virus has plunged in places where mosquitoes bred to be infected with a bacterium called Wolbachia have been released and have established themselves, scientists reported Thursday.
The results, from Australia, Indonesia, and Brazil, are dramatic, with a 76% drop in dengue infections in the part of Indonesia where the mosquitoes were released. In Brazil, treated neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro saw rates of dengue infections fall by 70%. Infections with chikungunya, which is spread by the same mosquitoes, were 75% lower there — in a year when the disease was at epidemic levels elsewhere in the area.
