Kajian aspek keamanan nyamuk Aedes aegypti Linnaeus ber-Wolbachia di Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Dengue prevention efforts are limited to the control strategies of its vector and the management of breeding sites. New alternatives for dengue vector control that are sustainable and more environmentally friendly are needed to complement the government’s current efforts. Research on Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti Linnaeus mosquitoes as an alternative biocontrol strategy has been performed in Yogyakarta City. However, one of the concerns of the community members and stakeholders about this technology is the safety aspect regarding the transmission of Wolbachia to other species and the possibility that humans will contract Wolbachia. This study aimed to address these concerns, namely to find out whether horizontal transmission of Wolbachia occurred from A. aegypti that were released to other species and whether residents living in the released areas were infected with Wolbachia. The research was conducted in Dusun Nogotirto and Dusun Kronggahan (Sleman Regency), as well as in Dusun Jomblangan and Dusun Singosaren (Bantul Regency), Yogyakarta Special Province. Wolbachia qPCR screening using the target gene WD0513 was performed on 922 Culex quinquefasciatus Say and 331 Aedes albopictus (Skuse). ELISA test was carried out on 190 pairs of plasma samples, namely the sample before the Wolbachia frequency was established (still 80%). The results showed no evidence of Wolbachia transfer from Wolbachia-infected A. aegypti to other mosquito species coexisting in the same habitat or to humans. This study corroborates the safety evidence of Wolbachia-infected A. aegypti technology as an alternative to control dengue virus transmissio

Stable establishment of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti populations in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia for the control of arbovirus transmission by Aedes aegypti has been proposed and is being implemented in a number of countries. Here we describe the successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia in four sites in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We demonstrate that Wolbachia can be successfully introgressed after transient releases of wMel-infected eggs or adult mosquitoes. We demonstrate that the approach is acceptable to communities and that Wolbachia maintains itself in the mosquito population once deployed. Finally, our data show that spreading rates of Wolbachia in the Indonesian setting are slow which may reflect more limited dispersal of Aedes aegypti than seen in other sites such as Cairns, Australia

<i>Aedes aegypti</i> abundance and insecticide resistance profiles in the Applying <i>Wolbachia </i>to Eliminate Dengue trial

The Applying Wolbachia to Eliminate Dengue (AWED) trial was a parallel cluster randomised trial that demonstrated Wolbachia (wMel) introgression into Ae. aegypti populations reduced dengue incidence. In this predefined substudy, we compared between treatment arms, the relative abundance of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus before, during and after wMel-introgression. Between March 2015 and March 2020, 60,084 BG trap collections yielded 478,254 Ae. aegypti and 17,623 Ae. albopictus. Between treatment arms there was no measurable difference in Ae. aegypti relative abundance before or after wMel-deployments, with a count ratio of 0.96 (95% CI 0.76, 1.21) and 1.00 (95% CI 0.85, 1.17) respectively. More Ae. aegypti were caught per trap per week in the wMel-intervention arm compared to the control arm during wMel deployments (count ratio 1.23 (95% CI 1.03, 1.46)). Between treatment arms there was no measurable difference in the Ae. albopictus population size before, during or after wMel-deployment (overall count ratio 1.10 (95% CI 0.89, 1.35)). We also compared insecticide resistance phenotypes of Ae. aegypti in the first and second years after wMel-deployments. Ae. aegypti field populations from wMel-treated and untreated arms were similarly resistant to malathion (0.8%), permethrin (1.25%) and cyfluthrin (0.15%) in year 1 and year 2 of the trial. In summary, we found no between-arm differences in the relative abundance of Ae. aegypti or Ae. albopictus prior to or after wMel introgression, and no between-arm difference in Ae. aegypti insecticide resistance phenotypes. These data suggest neither Aedes abundance, nor insecticide resistance, confounded the epidemiological outcomes of the AWED trial