Download Wolbachia and Dengue

Wolbachia and Dengue
By: Vibhu and Bhavana Ambil
What is Dengue Fever ?
● Dengue Fever is a sub-tropical and tropical
disease that affects 2.4 million people each year.
About half the world’s population is now at risk.
In the US, the southeast population is the most
at risk.
● Dengue is transmitted to humans through a
mosquito called , Aedes Aegypti (a vector),
which mainly resides in urban and suburban
areas.
● There is currently no cure for Dengue, however,
if detected in the early stages, there is a higher
chance of survival
● It causes flu like symptoms such as fever
,rashes, headache and joint pain.
A graph we made using
the data from our hospital
records
What it does to your body ?
● The dengue virus is injected into the
bloodstream by the mosquito
● It then affects the surrounding skin cells,
causing rashes
● It also contaminates an important immune
cell, the Langerhans Cell. It prevents the body
from detecting the virus
● The virus infects of bone marrow
megakaryocytes causing drop in plateletsthrombocytopenia
Wolbachia and it’s Use
EliminateDengue is a research program that has
been working to end the spread of dengue fever with
the help of a bacteria , Wolbachia Melophagi.
Wolbachia is naturally present in 60% of all insects,
but not Aedes Aegypti.
EliminateDengue, after long research, found that,
when wolbachia was injected into Aedes Aegypti,
the dengue virus could not multiply. Wolbachia
causes premature death of the Dengue Virus.
This was an exciting discovery . If Wolbachia is
inserted into a female Aedes Aegypti mosquito who
mates with another mosquito ,then their eggs will
have Wolbachia. This process is called Cytoplasmic
Incompatibility.
Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
When a male with Wolbachia mates
with a female without Wolbachia, their
eggs will not hatch. This ensures that
Wolbachia is present in every
mosquito.
The spread of Wolbachia from
mosquito to mosquito improves the
fitness of bacteria, so it can survive
against adaptations by the Dengue
Virus.
The Cost $
●
●
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Half the process is natural mating that does not require a cost. The cost factor only
plays in when it is needed to inject the wolbachia into the mosquitos.
EliminateDengue has not stated the dollar amount for their research and execution,
however they have said that it is low cost. Insecticide base programs are more
expensive.
EliminateDengue is funded mainly by The Foundation for the National Institutes of
Health through Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
Benefits
The use of Wolbachia provides a means
of biocontrol that is both pesticide-free
and poses minimal environmental safety
concerns.
Previously, trucks and insecticides were
sprayed to control dengue- and it never
worked.
This is because Aedes Aegypti hides
under beds and in dark places where the
insecticides never reached. These
chemicals were not only ineffective but
also polluted the environment and
caused a loss in the species of other
insects.
Career Implications
The main career areas involved are :
Mosquito Biology
Ecology
Dengue Epidemiology and Control
Health Education and Promotion
Molecular Science
Microbiology
Immunology
Population Biology
Genetics (wolbachia genetics)
:Mosquito Biologist
:Ecologist
:Epidemiologist
:Marketing Director/ Specialist
:Molecular Scientist
:Microbiologist
:Immunologist
:Population Biologist
: Researcher/Entomologist
Impact on Health Care
Every year dengue occupies 2.4 million hospital
beds.This uses a lot of resources and those beds could
be used to treat other patients as well. With
EliminateDengue’s approach, the spread can be
prevented.
Not only is this approach used for Dengue Fever ,but
also to other disease carrying mosquitoes. Researchers
are currently attempting to adopt this approach with
mosquitoes that transmit malaria, lymphatic filariasis
,West Nile Virus and Ross River fever.
All those diseases also cause a lot of deaths and with
this innovation they can be prevented.
Sources
●
www.deadlydengue.com (our website)
●
www.eliminatedengue.com
●
www.nature.com
●
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ErcwogWbIA
●
www.onlymyhealth.com
●
www.careercenter.tamu.edu
●
www.governmentjobs.com
●
https://www.google.com/url?url=http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url%
●
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja
●
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web