In recent events, scientists have discovered that a bacteria called Wolbachia that can fight off the Zika virus. They found that another species of mosquitoes that is able carry the disease fighting bacteria, and now scientists and government officials from Brazil, and members of the Gates Foundation are planning to release hordes of the Wolbachia carrying mosquitoes into urban areas of Brazil. Now the big question is: will it actually work?

Ironically, the species to hold Wolbachia doesn’t naturally carry the bacteria in its genetic makeup. Wolbachia is introduced to the specific mosquito species Aedes Aegypti manually (1), and the bacteria would take residence in the mosquito’s cells and then when they reproduce it is passed down genetically. Wolbachia is spread to people when the mosquito with the bacteria bites someone and then it spreads to them, and when a bug with Zika tries to infect that person the bacteria stops the virus in its tracks. The mosquitoes with Zika also contract Wolbachia and kills the virus in them as well. The whole trial is set to run in bigger parts of the Rio de Janeiro area, and in other parts of South America and South-East Asia. The project is going to cost, in total, $18 million.

The idea of releasing millions of Wolbachia infected mosquitoes to combat against other bugs infected with Zika seems like a very abstract idea, and honestly it sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. There are, as it were, many things that can go right and many things that can go wrong. While yes, this bacteria could potentially solve the Zika problem, being that it is a very powerful bacterium that can stop the virus, but it is a bit odd that they would release it in this way as to other options like maybe distributing it with injecting Wolbachia either orally or through a shot. Seeing as they would release the bacteria in this manner, there must be some sort of good reason for it. Perhaps Wolbachia is hard to distribute through a pill or a shot. In any case, there is a possible worry that the Aedes Aegypti mosquito could over-populate. They are found in most subtropical areas throughout the world, which is where the Wolbachia carrying mosquitoes will be released, but it does seem odd to release even more hordes of millions of Aedes Aegypti even when there is already so many.

So, in the end, all we can do is hope that this plan doesn’t backfire. While there can be many benefits to this project there can also be consequences, especially since we are altering the environment in such a way that there is a possible chance of overpopulation of the Aedes Aegypti.

Sources:

(1):  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rio-to-fight-zika-with-massive-release-of-bacteria-infected-mosquitoes/#

(2): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_aegypti

Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_aegypti