The Instituto de Biologia Molecular do Paraná (IBMP) and the World Mosquito Program (WMP) inaugurated on Saturday (19) the Wolbito do Brasil, the world’s largest biofactory specialized in breeding Aedes aegypti mosquitoes inoculated with the Wolbachia bacterium, which prevents the development of viruses causing diseases like dengue, chikungunya, and zika.
With 70 employees, the biofactory claims to be capable of producing 100 million mosquito eggs per week. Initially, the unit will exclusively serve the Ministry of Health, which selects the municipalities for implementing the Wolbachia method based on maps of arbovirus incidence transmitted by Aedes.
Tubiacanga and Jurujuba, neighborhoods in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói (RJ), respectively.
The Wolbachia method has been expanded to six more cities: Londrina and Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraná; Joinville, in Santa Catarina; Petrolina, in Pernambuco; and Belo Horizonte and Campo Grande, capitals of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso do Sul, respectively. The method is in the implementation phase in the municipalities of Presidente Prudente, in São Paulo, Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais, and Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte.
The next to receive the method are Balneário Camboriú and Blumenau, in Santa Catarina, in addition to new areas in Joinville, in Santa Catarina; Valparaíso de Goiás and Luziânia, in Goiás; and in the federal capital, Brasília.
According to Wolbito do Brasil, implementation of the method in these cities is in the communication and population engagement phase. Mosquito releases in these regions are scheduled for the second half of the year.
The biofactory emphasizes that the method does not use transgenic mosquitoes and is complementary to other methods and the basic precautions the population must take to eliminate insect breeding sites.
The Instituto de Biologia Molecular do Paraná, a partner in the biofactory, was created through a partnership between the Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná (Tecpar), linked to the state government, and the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), linked to the Ministry of Health.
“The inauguration of this factory places Brazil, through this Fiocruz-Tecpar partnership here in Paraná, at the forefront of this technology worldwide,” said Health Minister Alexandre Padilha, who attended the inauguration.
How it works
Present in 14 countries, the method involves releasing Wolbachia-inoculated mosquitoes into the environment so they reproduce with the local Aedes aegypti population, producing offspring that also carry the bacterium and thus have reduced ability to transmit dengue, chikungunya, or zika to humans.
Wolbachias are a genus of bacteria found in more than half of the world’s insects, according to scientific estimates. In studies conducted since the early 2010s, scientists successfully bred Aedes aegypti infected with Wolbachia strains that do not occur naturally in the mosquito.
In Aedes, these bacteria inhibit the replication of various human-transmissible arboviruses while giving carrier mosquitoes a reproductive advantage over non-infected populations.
According to Fiocruz, for every R$ 1 invested, government savings on medications, hospitalizations, and treatments are expected to range from R$ 43.45 to R$ 549.13.
Source: Agência Brasil