No Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes released in Negeri Sembilan - Health Ministry
01 Jul 2023 09:03pm
No Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes released in Negeri Sembilan - Health Ministry - Bernama Pix
Health deputy director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Norhayati Rusli instead said the video was related to the ministry’s malaria eradication programme and had nothing to do with the dengue control programme using Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes.
Dengue prevention efforts require community participation, which includes keeping residential areas and neighbourhoods clean, eliminating mosquito breeding grounds, as well as using aerosol sprays and mosquito repellents, she said in a statement today.
The statement was also issued to refute the claim that Aedes mosquitoes only feed on blood in order to survive.
According to Dr Norhayati, female Aedes mosquitoes need blood in order to produce eggs, while both male and female Aedes mosquitoes feed on plant nectar to survive.
She said that injecting Wolbachia, a bacteria found in 60 to 70 per cent of insects, into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can inhibit dengue virus replication and thereby prevent its transmission to humans.
Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes are not genetically modified and have no adverse effects on mosquitoes or the environment, she added.
Dr Norhayati also said that a study conducted in Malaysia from 2017 to 2019 showed that the number of dengue cases dropped by 50 to 80 per cent in localities where Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes were released, compared to areas where Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes were not released.
"The operation to release Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes in Malaysia was launched in 2019 as an additional strategy to deal with the increase in dengue cases and outbreaks in localities with high dengue cases.
"This method has also been implemented in several countries such as Australia, Indonesia and Brazil, resulting in a decrease of between 70 and 76 per cent of cases in localities where Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes were released. In Malaysia, this operation has so far been carried out in seven states, involving 28 localities,” she said.
Dr Norhayati said two years after the operation to release Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes was implemented, 16 out of 19 localities (84.2 per cent) (cohort 1 and cohort 2) showed a trend of decreasing dengue fever cases by 33 to 100 per cent.
She said that one of the remaining three localities had no dengue cases, while the other two showed no increase in dengue cases and had a small number of reported cases.
For accurate information about the operation to release Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes in Malaysia, the public can visit www.infosihat.gov.my or call the MOH hotline at 03-88833231, Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.
The public can also access the most up-to-date dengue information by visiting the iDengue website at http://idengue.mysa.gov.my/. - BERNAMA
