Indonesia, with its population With its large size and geographic diversity, it often faces challenges in controlling mosquito-borne diseases. One approach being developed by the Indonesian government is the use of Wolbachia bacteria as a tool to control the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a vector for infectious diseases such as dengue fever and Zika.
This government program marks an innovation in disease vector control efforts and could have a significant impact in suppressing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
Reporting from the Ministry of Health’s website, Directorate General of P2P, Wolbachia is a natural bacteria found in 60 percent of insects. Wolbachia bacteria do not infect humans or other vertebrates, and do not cause humans or animals to become sick. Wolbachia only lives in insect cells and can be passed from generation to generation through eggs.
Wolbachia in the body of the Aedes aegypti mosquito can reduce the replication of the dengue virus, thereby reducing the mosquito’s ability to transmit dengue fever.
The increase in bacteria or viruses occurs through the mechanism of competition for food between the dengue virus and Wolbachia bacteria in the mucous body. The less food you get, the more difficult it is for the dengue virus to reproduce (replicate).
Wolbachia mosquitoes are reported to be spread in five big cities, namely Semarang City, Bontang City, Kupang City, West Jakarta City and Bandung City. The Wolbachia innovation itself is considered safe in the long term.
This was conveyed by the Bogor Agricultural Institute Entomologist, Prof. Damayanti Buchori, who conducted an analysis regarding Wolbachia innovation in the long term. The result is that the application of Wolbachia mosquito technology to suppress the spread of the dengue fever virus is safe.
Furthermore, even if this innovation is safe over the next 30 years the risks are negligible. However, monitoring still needs to be carried out to see developments.
The Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, emphasized that the spread of wolbachia-bearing mosquitoes is guaranteed to be safe. This is because it has gone through a fairly long research process involving many experts.
As a result, the spread of Wolbachia mosquitoes to reduce dengue fever was proven to be effective in reducing the incidence of dengue by up to 77 percent and the number of hospital admissions by 86 percent. The use of fogging or slow fumigation has also fallen.
Currently, this government program is running. Like the implementation carried out in Sleman. This method is being researched by releasing thousands of wolbachia mosquitoes in two villages, Kronggahan and Nogotirto, Sleman.
Each house was distributed with up to eight to 10 mosquitoes. During the nine months following the release of sewak in early 2014, in the two research areas it was discovered that there was an increase in the population of Wolbachia mosquitoes by up to 60-80%. Researchers claim wolbachia continues to spread in local mosquito populations.
UGM Eliminate Dengue Project (EDP) researcher , Riris Andono Ahmad, said that this weekly mosquito release will continue until 100 percent of the mosquitoes in the city have Wolbachia.
This observer of tropical medicine explains that it is very likely that the release of wolbachia-bearing mosquitoes will be expanded in the future after obtaining the results of research and observations from the results of these two groups. He said the results would be very promising even though they were still ongoing, but what was hoped was that mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia could reproduce following their natural phases.
The plan is that in the near future, EDP UGM will release wolbachia-infected mosquitoes at four research locations in Bantul and Sleman Regencies. Meanwhile, the release of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Krongahan and Nogotirto began in early January. As a result, it was discovered that most of the mosquitoes containing wolbachia mated with ordinary mosquitoes.
In line with support for the Wolbachia Program, the Head of the Bandung City Health Service (Kadinkes), Anhar Hadian, said that the Wolbachia mosquito program is expected to be an effort to suppress dengue fever cases in Bandung City.
Anhar assessed that the Wolbachia mosquito program has proven effective in reducing dengue fever levels in several areas. The first city to implement this innovation was Yogyakarta. From research and implementation of wolbachia there, dengue cases can decrease by up to 70 percent.
Currently,
123,000 – 154,000 wolbacia eggs have been distributed in Pasanggrahan Village, Ujungberung District, which have been placed in 308 buckets. Later, this program will go through several phases. Namely, the mosquito distribution phase lasts for 6 months, then the impact phase is around 1 to 2 years later.
This program, said Anhar, is expected to reduce dengue fever cases in the city of Bandung. However, the implementation of Wolbachia does not mean replacing all existing dengue prevention efforts. Previous steps will continue to be implemented, such as 3M (draining, covering and burying), fogging according to indications, and the One House One Jumantik Movement.
The Wolbachia distribution program in Indonesia has shown encouraging results in several initial trials. Significant reductions in Aedes aegypti mosquito populations have occurred in several areas that have been intervened. In addition, the absence of evidence of increased resistance or other negative impacts of Wolbachia bacteria on the ecosystem is also a positive achievement.
This marks a step forward in efforts to control infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. It is hoped that through a combination of government efforts, international cooperation, and active community participation, the Wolbachia distribution program can be a step towards more effective control of infectious diseases.
