An international collaboration between Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, the University of Queensland (UQ), Verily Life Sciences, the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and James Cook University (JCU) has shown that a bacterium is the invasive, disease-transmitting mosquito Aedes aegypti can successfully sterilize and eradicate which is responsible for the spread of dengue, yellow fever and zika.
In what the CSIRO first describes for the southern hemisphere, the breakthrough could support the suppression and potential extermination of Aedes aegypti worldwide.
Published today in the PNAS (Proceedings National Academy of Sciences of the United States) – the landmark study included the release of three million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in northern Queensland, sterilized with bacteria called Wolbachia, at three trial sites across a period of 20 weeks in the summer of 2018.
The CSIRO says sterile male insects seek out and mate with wild females, preventing the production of offspring, and scientists returned the following year and found that one of the trial sites, Mourilyan in Queensland, was almost free of mosquitoes.
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CSIRO managing director Dr. Larry Marshall said the organization takes pride in building on a 100 year legacy of protecting Australia and its people. « The creation of our health and biosecurity team in 2016 meant we were prepared for COVID-19, and that preparation is paying off with other biosecurity threats like mosquitoes that spread some of the world’s most serious diseases, » said Dr. Marshall. “Over 40 percent of people have mosquito-borne diseases, so it is an opportunity for Australia to develop environmentally friendly mosquito control tools to control current and future mosquito invasions. “By working with Australian and international partners, we can address two of Australia’s greatest challenges – health and safety – simultaneously with groundbreaking research that is translated into effective global export solutions. « CSIRO is leveraging great Australian science to develop new technologies that will make this approach more cost-effective and suitable for the climates of less developed countries most affected by mosquito-borne viruses, and strengthen and protect our region. » JCU, Scott Ritchie, said the Wolbachia study was a successful international collaboration, where contemporary science partnered with cutting edge technology to eliminate the dengue-transmitting mosquito, Aedes aegypti. “That was a very successful project. We bred the three million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes needed for the experiment in the James Cook University insect house in Cairns, ”said Prof. Ritchie. Truly Product Manager Nigel Snoad said community engagement was also critical to the success of the project. “It was a great achievement for the joint team to set up and operate the mosquito rearing, sorting and release systems and to develop strong community engagement and support,” said Snoad. “We were proud of the work we were able to do in partnership with CSIRO, James Cook University and the local community. The continued suppression after the release ceases is an important finding, suggesting that a sustained effect is possible for this disease vector. ”CSIRO scientist and UQ Associate Professor Nigel Beebe said the study shows that this technique is robust and in is able to effectively suppress mosquito populations. « During the trial, we saw that over 80 percent of the mosquito population at our three trial sites was suppressed, » said Associate Professor Beebe. “When we examined the sites the following year we were very encouraged to see that the suppression is still in effect as one of our most productive cities for Aedes aegypti has this mosquito almost free of this mosquito with a 97 percent reduction the following season is. “A year later, the mosquito population at the second trial site remained largely suppressed, while the population at the third site fully recovered. « We are currently investigating the differences that will be observed over the next mosquito season as they are incredibly insightful in order to further develop this technology and model how we could remove this exotic virus-carrying pest elsewhere around the world. »
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