As of this month, the districts of Niterói, Charitas, Preventório, São Francisco and Cachoeira, where about 20,000 people live, become part of the project "Eliminate Dengue: Brazilian Challenge", which is in the expansion phase. With the support of Fiotec, the project proposes an innovative approach to reduce the transmission of dengue virus, zika and chikungunya, by releasingAedes aegypti with Wolbachia bacteria. The people, animals and the environment are not at any risk, because the method is natural and safe. The project is part of an international initiative, the program "Eliminate Dengue: Our Challenge", conducted in Brazil by Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

A multidisciplinary team of experts has been restructured to participate in this new phase of the project. The idea is that about 60 professionals from Fiocruz be able to meet all large-scale expansion needs of the project. They work in four main activities:

1. Communication of the project;

2. Community engagement;

3. The release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia;

4. The monitoring for the presence of Wolbachia in the mosquito population.

During this first month of 2017, communication and community engagement teams will work to inform the public about the releases of mosquitoes in the four districts. After the engagement of the population,Aedes mosquitoes with Wolbachia will be released followed by the monitoring period for the verification of the presence of Wolbachia in the mosquito population, which should last a few months.

"The goal is not only to release Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia. We do a whole process of engagement before, consisting in information to and awareness of the population. The results are showing the great success of this initiative", said Luciano Moreira, Fiocruz researcher and general coordinator of the Project in Brazil, in an article published by Fiocruz News Agency.

The Challenge

The goal of the project is to replace gradually the entire field population of Aedes aegypti with mosquitoes with the bacteria. This happens by cross-breeding Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, in that the bacterium is naturally passed from female to offspring that are born with Wolbachia. This process ensures the self-sustainability of the method.

The program started in Australia has achieved great success for more than five years. Pilot projects have also been carried out in Colombia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The initiative does not use any type of genetic modification.

* Source: Fiocruz News Agency.