Assessing the epidemiological effect of wolbachia for dengue control

Lambrechts, Louis, Ferguson, Neil M., Harris, Eva, Holmes, Edward C., McGraw, Elizabeth A., O'Neill, Scott L., Ooi, Eng E., Ritchie, Scott A., Ryan, Peter A., Scott, Thomas W., Simmons, Cameron P., and Weaver, Scott C. (2015) Assessing the epidemiological effect of wolbachia for dengue control. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 15 (7). pp. 862-866.

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Abstract

Dengue viruses cause more human morbidity and mortality than any other arthropod-borne virus. Dengue prevention relies mainly on vector control; however, the failure of traditional methods has promoted the development of novel entomological approaches. Although use of the intracellular bacterium wolbachia to control mosquito populations was proposed 50 years ago, only in the past decade has its use as a potential agent of dengue control gained substantial interest. Here, we review evidence that supports a practical approach for dengue reduction through field release of wolbachia-infected mosquitoes and discuss the additional studies that have to be done before the strategy can be validated and implemented. A crucial next step is to assess the efficacy of wolbachia in reducing dengue virus transmission. We argue that a cluster randomised trial is at this time premature because choice of wolbachia strain for release and deployment strategies are still being optimised. We therefore present a pragmatic approach to acquiring preliminary evidence of efficacy through various complementary methods including a prospective cohort study, a geographical cluster investigation, virus phylogenetic analysis, virus surveillance in mosquitoes, and vector competence assays. This multipronged approach could provide valuable intermediate evidence of efficacy to justify a future cluster randomised trial.

Item ID: 42682
Item Type: Article (Commentary)
ISSN: 1474-4457
Copyright Information: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Funders: Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2016 03:36
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1117 Public Health and Health Services > 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920404 Disease Distribution and Transmission (incl. Surveillance and Response) @ 100%
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