Using mosquitoes to fight Dengue fever
The mosquitoes are being reared with Wolbachia bacteria that works as a natural vaccine to keep them from becoming infected with the virus that causes dengue. They were released on an island as part of research to help determine whether the bacteria can help in the fight against the disease.
The Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes not only died quicker but they also blocked the dengue virus partially or entirely, sort of like a natural vaccine.
Read more: Vietnam releases mosquito with bacteria that blocks dengue fever
Known as "breakbone fever" because of the excruciating joint pain and hammer-pounding headaches it causes, the disease has no vaccine, cure or specific treatment. Most patients must simply suffer through days of raging fever, sweats and a bubbling rash. For those who develop a more serious form of illness, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, internal bleeding, shock, organ failure and death can occur.
New research suggests some 390 million people are infected with the virus each year, most of them in Asia. That's about one in every 18 people on Earth, and more than three times higher than the World Health Organization's previous estimates.
Wolbachia also blocks other mosquito-borne diseases such as yellow fever and chikungunya. Similar research is being conducted for malaria, though that's trickier because the disease is carried by several different types of mosquitoes.
The province has had a record year and is home to the country's highest rate of dengue.
Dengue typically comes in cycles, hitting some areas harder in different years. People remain susceptible to the other strains after being infected with one, and it is largely an urban disease with mosquitoes breeding in stagnant water.
