World Mosquito Programme (360G-Wellcome-212914_Z_18_B)

The World Mosquito Program, formerly known as the Eliminate Dengue Program, is developing a new way to control dengue fever and other diseases caused by arboviruses including Zika and chikungunya. Dengue and these other diseases are caused by different viruses that are transmitted between people by mosquitoes. We have found that a common bacterium (Wolbachia) found in many insects naturally, but not the mosquito that transmits dengue, will reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit dengue and other viruses when it is introduced. Initial trials have demonstrated that the Wolbachia technology can be practically deployed at a limited scale, is stable in the field, is acceptable to communities and regulators, and is predicted by modeling to have a major impact on dengue transmission. We are undertaking large scale pilot deployments to demonstrate our ability to implement our Wolbachia vector control measures over significant population centres and also with the aim of providing evidence on disease impact. We are also building the infrastructure needed to support the scale-up and global roll-out of our Wolbachia technology. The technology, if it functions as envisioned, will provide an area-wide solution to the transmission of dengue and other arboviral diseases, capable of spreading and maintaining itself without the need for reapplication and without need for human behavior change.