Wolbachia-Infected Mosquitoes Stymie Dengue’s Spread: Study

Randomized, controlled research conducted in an Indonesian city confirms the reduction in cases seen with previous observational work.

Written byShawna Williams

| 2 min read

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ABOVE: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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Distributing mosquito eggs infected with Wolbachia bacteria led to a dramatic fall in dengue cases and hospitalizations in areas that got the intervention compared with those that didn’t, researchers report today (June 10) in The New England Journal of Medicine. While research on Wolbachia as a potential public health tool for combating dengue dates back more than a decade, this is the first randomized trial of the strategy.

“That provides the gold standard of evidence that Wolbachia is a highly effective intervention against dengue,” Oliver Brady, a dengue expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was not involved in the study, tells The Atlantic. “It has the potential to revolutionize mosquito control.”

Wolbachia is present in numerous arthropod species, where it manipulates reproduction in its hosts to ensure it becomes widespread in the population. Lab experiments indicated that once in mosquitos, ...

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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