Brazil plans to open a mosquito factory this year that could produce up to 100 million bugs in a week and release five billion bugs in a year.
Brazil Mosquito Factory
These bugs will be modified with a bacteria known as Wolbachia, which is a natural bacteria that is present in as many as 50% of insects. Interestingly, this bacteria is capable of blocking viruses, such as dengue and Zika, from growing in the bodies of mosquitoes.
The Wolbachia-loaded mosquitoes come with efforts to slow dengue fever transmission within Brazil. Such a step is taken by the World Mosquito Program with hopes that these bugs could yield life-saving effects.
For this project to take off, a mosquito factory is in the works and is set to open this year. It will be able to release up to five billion bugs each year in Brazil. According to Scott O'Neill, a microbiologist from Monash University and the World Mosquito Program's head, this factory will be the world's biggest.
These Wolbachia-loaded mosquitoes will be able to stop bugs from transmitting viruses such as dengue, Zika virus, chikungunya, and yellow fever. O'Neill was able to inject the small mosquito eggs with the Wolbachia bacteria.
O'Neill explains that they were able to grow the bacteria-containing mosquitoes and release them to communities where the bacteria spread into the wild population of mosquitoes. Then, dengue cases may see a dramatic drop.
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Combating Dengue
According to the World Health Organization, there were 2.8 million dengue cases reported in the Americas in 2022. Among the involved countries, Brazil had the second-highest incidence of 1,104.5 cases for every 100,000 people.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne condition that occurs in subtropical and tropical regions all over the world. Mild dengue fever leads to flu-like symptoms as well as a high fever. In severe cases of dengue fever, also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, could lead to serious bleeding, a sudden blood pressure drop, or even death.
Symptoms of dengue fever include a high fever of 40 degrees Celsius, nausea, headache, vomiting, muscle pain, joint pain, bone pain, swollen glands, rashes, and pain behind the eyes. In most cases, people recover within one week. However, there are cases where symptoms could worsen and become life-threatening.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever warning signs include persistent vomiting, severe stomach pain, blood in vomit, stools, or urine, nose or gum bleeding, rapid or difficult breathing, bleeding beneath the skin that may appear like a bruise, restlessness, irritability, or fatigue.
Each year, millions of dengue cases happen worldwide. Scientists have been working on vaccines for dengue fever. For now, in areas where the illness is prevalent, the best ways to avoid infection is to avoid getting a mosquito bite and to reduce the population of mosquitoes.
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