Wolbachia bacterium reduces transmission of Zika virus, confirms Fiocruz study

reduces the transmission of the Zika virus through the mosquito Aedes aegypti . The article, published on Wednesday (4) in the magazine Cell Host & Microbe , is the first scientific study in the world that proves that the bacterium used to try to reduce the spread of dengue also has efficacy against the Zika virus. Since 2014, Fiocruz tests the so-called "mosquitos do bem" as a natural means of controlling dengue. Researcher Luciano Moreira, leader of the project "Eliminating Dengue: Brazil Challenge", says that the new laboratory experiment showed that mosquitoes infected with the bacterium Wolbachia

have no ability to transmit the Zika virus. "We showed this by doing the following experiment: we had mosquitoes that were infected [with Zika], divided into two groups: with Wolbachia

and without Wolbachia . After two weeks we collected saliva of mosquitoes from both groups and we inject them into healthy mosquitoes that had never seen the virus [Zika]. When saliva originates from mosquitoes with Wolbachia, we can not infect [healthy] mosquitoes, Wolbachia has blocked the transmission of the virus, "he said. The use of mosquitoes with the bacterium Wolbachia , laboratory-created for disease control, is tested in two locations in Rio de Janeiro: in the Governor's Island, in the north of the capital, and in Jurujuba , in Niterói. The project is waiting for more funding to expand.

Researchers argue that this is a natural, safe and self-sustaining alternative to combat dengue, Zika virus and Chikungunya fever. Thus, there is no need to reduce the mosquito population and no environmental imbalance is caused.

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