KLINIKFARMA – The government’s efforts to control dengue fever by releasing Wolbachia mosquitoes have been hampered by the spread of hoaxes. This was revealed by the Director of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) Imran Pambudi after evaluating the current situation in Bandung.
One of the hoaxes circulating in society is the assumption that Wolbachia mosquito technology is genetic engineering. Thus, this technology is considered more dangerous to humans than the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The interest of residents to act as ‘foster parents’ of Wolbachia mosquito eggs has decreased along with the spread of false news or hoaxes. The number of bucket drop-off points has decreased significantly, from initially reaching around 350 buckets, but after the emergence of the hoax issue at the end of the year, the number dropped drastically to only around 30 percent of the bucket drop-off points that were previously willing to be dropped off,” said Imran.
“Therefore, the percentage of aedes aegypti mosquito breeding examined in nature currently only reaches 14 percent of the number that should be around 35 percent,” he added.
An innovative dengue fever control program using Wolbachia mosquito technology has been tested by Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Tahija Foundation, and Monash University for around 10 years.
Wolbachia is a natural bacterium, a common symbiont found in arthropods, which has a mechanism to inhibit dengue virus replication.
The results of research conducted in Yogyakarta succeeded in reducing the incidence rate of dengue fever by 77 percent and reducing the risk of hospitalization by 86 percent.
