Khanh Hoa released ... mosquitoes to the island to raise

Khanh Hoa province will release thousands of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes to Tri Nguyen island to replace natural mosquitoes.

>>>Air conditioner cum chasing mosquitoes

A population of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia biological agents will be released to Tri Nguyen Island (belonging to P.Vinh Nguyen, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa) to replace natural mosquitoes capable of transmitting dengue.

This is the content discussed by both domestic and foreign scientists at the Project Implementation Workshop 'Assessing the replacement of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia biological agents'.

According to scientists, the Wolbachia-born Aedes Aegypti mosquito population, when released into the wild, will transmit Wolbachia to natural mosquitoes. This type of bacteria that invades the natural mosquito will cause inhibition of the replication of Dengue virus - the virus that causes dengue fever - while reducing the lifespan of regular mosquitoes.

Discovered in 1924, the Wolbachia bacterium does not infect humans. Australia has released this type of mosquito in the community since 2011, the results are quite satisfactory.

According to Dr. Vien Quang Mai, Deputy Director of Nha Trang Pasteur Institute, there are more than 50,000 cases of dengue fever each year, of which the number of deaths is over 50, the most serious is the central region. Cyclically, dengue outbreaks will re-emerge after 5 years, but in 2010 the area broke out and from the beginning of 2012 the epidemic returned with more than 34,000 cases (in 2010 it was 36,000), in There were 14 deaths.

Khanh Hoa is the province with the highest number of cases in the central region. Statistics of Khanh Hoa Department of Health show that by the end of 2012, the province had nearly 5,300 cases of infection, including 5 deaths. Especially in Khanh Hoa, 4 circulating viruses causing dengue fever D1, D2, D3, D4 have been circulated.

The abnormal increase in dengue outbreaks, while preventive measures proved ineffective. Therefore, the method of replacing new mosquitoes to eliminate dengue virus is expected to be successful, limiting the spread of the epidemic.

The reason for choosing Tri Nguyen Island to implement the project is because it is far from the mainland, there are populations of naturally high mosquitoes all year round. Current fieldwork results show that the survival rate of mosquitoes containing Wolbachia reaches 80-100%, no impact on people's health. The majority of households in the island agreed to the project to be implemented. After conducting a survey of the necessary steps, in April 2013 scientists began to release mosquitoes into the island.