Each year about 390 million people are infected by Dengue Fever. Typical symptoms that arrive 3 - 14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito include fever, headache, muscle & joint pain, and rashes. Severe cases may cause internal bleeding and dangerously low blood pressure.
There is a new means to prevent Dengue, along with a host of other maladies such as Zika, using bacteria.
Although a vaccine is available, one needs to have been infected with Dengue at least once before it can be administered.
The spread of the disease through the mosquito vector has altered the way it’s researched. Up until recently, there are have been minimal or temporary means to control it. Effective insecticides for it can damage wildlife, add toxins to the soils & water, and become ineffective when mosquitos develop immunity.
Several years ago scientists began testing a new strategy of infecting the mosquitoes themselves with a bacteria, Wolbachia, that prevents mosquitos from contracting Dengue and other viruses.
The bacteria is injected into mosquito eggs which mature and are released into the wild. When these mosquitos mate their offspring carry the bacteria and gain a resistance to the disease.
Initial results have shown great promise. A newer study conducted by the nonprofit World Mosquito Program (WMP) shows great promise in reducing Dengue infections. In 2020, there was a 86% drop in hospitalizations for Dengue Fever in areas that Wolbachia infected mosquitoes had been released.
WHO, the World Health Organization, is currently reviewing these results and will be developing a full report soon.
Mosquito related diseases have shaped the building of the Panama Canal, the colonization of the New World, life in China, Africa, and through most of the tropical and temperate regions of Earth. Today there is at least some optimism that one day we will defeat the worst mosquito-borne disease.
