Brasilia.-Foz do Iguaçu has just acquired a new weapon in the fight against dengue: the Wolbachia Method Mosquito Biofactory, inaugurated this Monday.
The idea is to breed and release into the environment Aedes aegypti mosquitoes contaminated with the Wolbachia bacteria, which prevents the development of dengue, zika and chikungunya viruses.
The unit is the result of an alliance between Itaipú Binacional, the Ministry of Health, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the WMP Institute (World Mosquito Program), the Government of Paraná and the city of Foz do Yguazú.
Itaipu invested a little over 30 thousand dollars in equipment and adaptation of the space, approximately 166 meters, located in the Municipal Garden of Foz do Yguazú.
“Itaipu has been a partner in this process for a long time. We have been discussing this issue of Wolbachia since 2019 and providing support, both technical and financial, so that this moment reaches where it is, which is precisely the implementation of the mosquito biofactory,” explained the manager of the Social Responsibility Initiatives Division of Itaipu Binacional, Kléber Vanolli.
The head of the Itaipu Social Responsibility Advisory Board, Eduardo Augusto Scirea, highlighted the use of science and technology and, mainly, institutional collaborations in the fight against dengue. “When there is convergence and collaboration to improve the quality of life of the population, there is social responsibility, and that is the role of Itaipu Binacional,” he said.
The mosquitoes that will be released into the environment are not genetically modified and do not transmit other diseases. The method has reduced 96% of dengue cases in Australia, where it was developed.
“The Wolbachia method was discovered in Australia around 2009. A bacteria was identified that is present in the fruit fly and, when present in Aedes aegypti, is capable of blocking the replication of the dengue virus. With the arrival of chikungunya and zika, it was observed that this bacteria, which lives inside the insect cell, also impairs the replication of these viruses,” explained Diogo Chalegre, Head of Institutional and Government Relations at the WMP Institute – an international non-governmental organization. A for-profit initiative that seeks to protect the global community from mosquito-borne diseases.
According to WMP, there will be approximately 1,300 mosquitoes per week. These insects will be released by a van that, for 20 weeks, will travel through an area that corresponds to just over 50% of the territory of the city of Foz do Yguazú.
“Before carrying out any mosquito release, we do extremely important work in the field, which is a community engagement activity, that is, we talk, we dialogue with the population on different fronts, health, education, social leaders, informing the population about what we are going to do,” Chalegre added.
When mosquitoes with Wolbachia are released into the environment, they mate with local insects and the new generation also carries the bacteria. Gradually, the proportion of mosquitoes with Wolbachia grows and remains high, eliminating the need for further releases.
“We hope that this will be an effective method to drastically reduce dengue virus infection in this new epidemiological period,” says the director of the Secretariat of the State of Paraná, Maria Goretti López.
Foz do Iguaçu and Londrina are among the six cities in Brazil selected to participate in the final stages of the method. There are plans to install a biofactory in Curitiba. According to the Paraná Department of Health, as of last week, the state had registered more than 8,995 cases of the disease and 22 deaths.
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2024-08-05 09:10:00
