Dengue Vector Control: A Review for Wolbachia-Based Strategies

Abstract

Mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose a major health problem globally and have had a significant impact on human life and economy. Consequently, many countries have implemented national vector control programs in an effort to suppress/eradicate mosquitos contributing to spread of diseases including Malaria, Dengue, Yellow fever, Rift valley fever, West Nile fever, Zika, Chikungunya etc. Of these endemic diseases, Dengue fever is an arbovirus and transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti mosquito that has become a rapidly emerging infection, especially in the tropical countries. Insecticides spraying remains the main method to control the transmition of dengue virus. However, the overuse and misuse of insecticides can result in negative consequences such as the development of insecticides resistance. This, in part, has led to the development of a more eco-friendly measures to suppress mosquitoes e.g. gene-drive based controls and Wolbachia-based approaches. The latter approach has the ability to block the dengue virus transmission by inhibiting virus intracellular replication in mosquito. In addition, Wolbachia decreases adult mosquito lifespan and can be naturally passed from one generation to the next. In recent years, Aedes aegypti mosquitos infected with Wolbachia released and tested in the field in several countries and have achieved very promising results. In this review, we focus and discuss the emerging Wolbachia-based biocontrol approaches that are already being deployed, evaluated and tested in the field.