Not only does Wolbachia decrease the total number of disease-carrying, bloodthirsty, flying syringes, it also decreases their numbers. Old mosquitoes are more likely to carry disease causing infections than young mosquitoes. For public health officials, the next trick is getting the Wolbachia into the mosquitoes more easily. The scientists injected the mosquitoes with a special strain of fast-growing Wolbachia originally found in fruit flies. This strain has been casually dubbed "popcorn" because of the popcorn-shaped structures formed inside the gut of fruit flies. To infect Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry yellow and dengue fever, and malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquitoes, scientists injected Wolbachia into tiny mosquito eggs. Only 10 percent of A. aegypti mosquitoes survived, and only 5 percent of Anopheles mosquitoes survived. Once a Wolbachia-infected mosquito, always a Wolbachia-infected mosquito, even after the original infected mosquito dies. All the offspring from a Wolbachia-infected female mosquito are also Wolbachia-infected, since the parasite is passed from mother to daughter. Given adequate funding and local cooperation, Wolbachia could spread though a local mosquito population in a year, says Sinkins. French Polynesia, Burkina Faso and Kenya are likely to be the first countries to develop field trials for Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, if they pass all the appropriate tests for biological control agents. Using one bacteria to stop another is like using probiotics to aid in digestion, said George Dimopoulos, a researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "I think we will see a number of interesting applications in the near future based on the introduction of certain bacterial populations," said Dimopoulos. "In fact, this may be happening all the time naturally." In the field, there is often a huge variation between local mosquito population in their ability to transmit diseases said Dimopoulos, a variation that is likely explained by the various bacteria found in the mosquitoes guts. If Wolbachia can influence the transmission of filariasis-causing nematode, other bacteria should be able to influence other diseases as well. Related Links: |
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