The good mosquitoes (mosquitos do bem, in portuguese) of the Wolbachia Method arrived in Northeast Brazil with the inauguration of a biofactory of the project in the city of Petrolina, in Pernambuco, on July 19. The structure makes it possible to release Wolbitos in the municipality, with an estimated two thousand "Wolbito Houses (Casas de Wolbitos, in portuguese)" being produced per week. Its construction and operation is part of a partnership between the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), World Mosquito Program (WMP Brazil), Ministry of Health, Petrolina City Hall, and the Pernambuco Government.

The inauguration of the biofactory marked the beginning of weekly releases in the city, which will proceed in stages. The idea is to reach approximately 300,000 inhabitants in the urban area by the end of 2022. Although there are no plans to expand the method to the Petrolina rural area, a new stage of releases may happen depending on the resources’ availability.

In this first moment, the releases will take place in the neighborhoods of São Gonçalo, Dom Avelar, Cosme e Damião, Antônio Cassimiro, João de Deus, Jardim São Paulo, and in the Novo Tempo and Pedra Linda districts. The mosquitoes will be released from the installation of devices in public areas, where Aedes aegypti eggs with Wolbachia will be deposited, which will be born in the containers and then fly off in search of food. This method is employed by the World Mosquito Program in several countries and has already been widely used in the Niterói/RJ city. Wolbitos are present in about 75% of the county, where they began to be released as recently as 2015.

In Petrolina, the devices installation and monitoring is done by the city hall with support from WMP Brasil/Fiocruz. The biofactory inaugurated in the city is the preparation site for the mosquito eggs produced by Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro, to then be released in the neighborhoods of the Pernambuco municipality.

With information from the WMP Brazil Bulletin.