Abstract
Dengue fever is one of the most severe viral diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, with traditional approaches of disease control proving insufficient to prevent significant disease burden. Release of Wolbachia-transinfected mosquitoes offers a promising alternative control methodologies; Wolbachia-transinfected female Aedes aegypti demonstrate reduced dengue virus transmission, whilst Wolbachia-transinfected males cause zygotic lethality when crossed with uninfected females, providing a method for suppressing mosquito populations. Although highly promising, the delicate nature of population control strategies and differences between local species populations means that controlled releases of Wolbachia-transinfected mosquitoes cannot be performed without extensive testing on specific local Ae. aegypti populations. In order to investigate the potential for using Wolbachia to suppress local Ae. aegypti populations in Taiwan, we performed lab-based and semi-field fitness trials. We first transinfected the Wolbachia strain wAlbB into a local Ae. aegypti population (wAlbB-Tw) and found no significant changes in lifespan, fecundity and fertility when compared to controls. In the laboratory, we found that as the proportion of released male mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia was increased, population suppression could reach up to 100%. Equivalent experiments in semi-field experiments found suppression rates of up to 70%. The release of different ratios of wAlbB-Tw males in the semi-field system provided an estimate of the optimal size of male releases. Our results indicate that wAlbB-Tw has significant potential for use in vector control strategies aimed at Ae. aegypti population suppression in Taiwan. Open field release trials are now necessary to confirm that wAlbB-Tw mediated suppression is feasible in natural environments.
Highlights
Dengue virus (DENV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family which has four serotypes and causes dengue fever [1]
Prior to open field release, new genetic approaches that interfere with mosquito abilities and reduce mosquito population density require progressive evaluation both in the laboratory and contained field trials
We describe a semi-field system designed to study the ability of wAlbB-Tw mosquitoes to suppress local mosquito populations
Summary
Dengue virus (DENV) is a member of the Flaviviridae family which has four serotypes (denoted DENV-1 to DENV-4) and causes dengue fever [1]. Every year around 400 million people worldwide are infected with DENV, making it one of the largest public health threats in tropical and subtropical countries [2,3]. DENV is mainly transmitted by Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Ae. albopictus, and widely used and highly safe vaccines and antiviral treatments currently exist [2]. Existing strategies have proven insufficient for dealing with the significant increase in cases of dengue fever reported worldwide [5]. The significant dengue fever outbreaks in southern Taiwan, in 2014 and 2015 resulted in hundreds of deaths. There have been no serious outbreaks of dengue fever in this region since sporadic cases still occur. New strategies to combat dengue (and Aedes-borne diseases in general) that can be applied in Taiwan are urgently required
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