Assessing key safety concerns of a Wolbachia-based strategy to control dengue transmission by Aedes mosquitoes

Popovici, Jean, Moreira, Luciano A., Poinsignon, Anne, Iturbe-Ormaetxe, Inaki, McNaughton, Darlene, and O’Neill, Scott L. (2010) Assessing key safety concerns of a Wolbachia-based strategy to control dengue transmission by Aedes mosquitoes. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro. Memorias, 105 (8). pp. 957-964.

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Abstract

Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya or malaria affect millions of people each year and control solutions are urgently needed. An international research program is currently being developed that relies on the introduction of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis into Aedes aegypti to control dengue transmission. In order to prepare for open-field testing releases of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes, an intensive social research and community engagement program was undertaken in Cairns, Northern Australia. The most common concern expressed by the diverse range of community members and stakeholders surveyed was the necessity of assuring the safety of the proposed approach for humans, animals and the environment. To address these concerns a series of safety experiments were undertaken. We report in this paper on the experimental data obtained, discuss the limitations of experimental risk assessment and focus on the necessity of including community concerns in scientific research.

Item ID: 16664
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1678-8060
Keywords: Aedes aegypti, Wolbachia, dengue, risk assessment, safety, biological control
Date Deposited: 07 May 2011 00:04
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified @ 50%
16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1601 Anthropology > 160104 Social and Cultural Anthropology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9599 Other Cultural Understanding > 959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified @ 50%
92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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