Dengue Fever is a rapidly spreading mosquito born disease whose symptoms range from mild aches and fatigue to severe joint and muscle pain. However the most sever form of the fever has a fatality rate of 1 in 20 and eventuates when multiple strains of the virus are present. There is currently no cure for the disease and there are fears that the disease could become an endemic. The ailment is carried in particular by a mosquito bread that feeds almost exclusively on human blood called Aedes aegypti. Once the mosquito bites an infected person the virus is transferred to it and begins replicating. The virus can then be passed on to other humans through biting.
One way of preventing the spread of Dengue Fever is by modifying the mosquitoes so that they die before they can pass on the disease as the incubation period of the virus is relatively long. This can be done through infectious bacteria known as Wolbachia which are transferred through the host’s eggs. Consequently the bacteria have become adapt in maximising the number of infected eggs, causing selection for infected offspring through genetic mutations of the host. This is seen as the infection spreads rapidly through the population. Therefore if a strain of Wolbachia which shortens the bacteria’s lifespan it can stop the propagation of dengue as the mosquito will die before the incubation period is complete. However the strain of Wolbachia that reduces an insect’s life span usually infects fruit flies and thus a new strain needed to be synthesised. This was achieved through the application of genetics as the Wolbachia bacteria was injected into A. aegypti and the bacteria that were able to evolve and survive in the mosquito were selected. The end result is that the Wolbachia can now affect mosquitoes, shortening lifespan in a treatment method that could extend beyond simply preventing the propagation of Dengue Fever but other insect born diseases as well.
Posted by Zahed Lambat, s4205101, Tuesday P3
