| Autor: |
Lin, Ya-Hsun, Joubert, Dirk Albert, Kaeser, Sebastian, Dowd, Cameron, Germann, Jurg, Khalid, Anam, Denton, Jai Andrew, Retski, Kate, Tavui, Aminiasi, Simmons, Cameron Paul, O'Neill, Scott Leslie, Gilles, Jeremie Roger Lionel |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Science Robotics; 7/17/2024, Vol. 9 Issue 92, p1-12, 12p |
| Abstrakt: |
Over the past 50 years, there has been a marked increase in diseases like dengue fever, chikungunya, and Zika. The World Mosquito Program (WMP) has developed an approach that, instead of attempting to eliminate vector species, introduces Wolbachia into native Aedes aegypti populations through the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes. Using this approach, a randomized controlled study recently demonstrated a 77% reduction in dengue across a treatment area within Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Existing release methods use the ground-based release of mosquito eggs or adults that are labor-intensive, are logistically challenging to scale up, and can be restrictive in areas where staff safety is a concern. To overcome these limitations, we developed a fully automated mosquito dosing release system that released smaller cohorts of mosquitoes over a wide area and integrated it into an uncrewed aerial vehicle. We established the effectiveness of this system using an aerial mark, release, and recapture approach. We then demonstrated that using only the aerial release method, we can establish Wolbachia infection in a naive Ae. aegypti population. In both cases, the use of aerial releases demonstrated comparable outcomes to ground-based releases without the required labor or risk. These two trials demonstrated the feasibility of using an aerial release approach for large-scale mosquito releases. Editor's summary: The World Mosquito Program recently developed a technique to control dengue transmission by releasing Wolbachia-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Wolbachia bacteria act as a virus-blocking agent and are maternally transmitted to the local mosquito populations. However, scaling ground-based releases to large geographic areas poses a challenge. To address this, Lin et al. developed an automated mosquito dosing release system and incorporated it into an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV). This system, which includes temperature and humidity control, is designed to release 150 mosquitos per dose. Two successful field trials in Fiji demonstrated that the UAV-based release achieved similar uniformity to ground release methods and successfully established Wolbachia infections in the native population over a 2-km2 area. —Melisa Yashinski [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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