July 19, 2019
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Wolbachia, bacteria to combat dengue
The first mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, bacteria that prevent them from transmitting arboviruses (including dengue, Zika and chikungunya), were released on Wednesday July 10, 2019 in Nouméa, New Caledonia, as part of the World Mosquito Program, which involves teams from the Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie. The aim of this program is to encourage mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia to breed with wild mosquitoes, resulting in a population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are unable to transmit arboviruses. To achieve this, scientists from the Institut Pasteur de Nouvelle-Calédonie progressively crossbred mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia with non-infected mosquitoes so that the bacteria are transmitted to future generations.