The Australian Government has come forward to provide financial aid to implement a biological control programme to control dengue in the country.
The Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne received Cabinet approval to use the ‘Wolbachia bacteria’ to biologically control the spread of dengue.
The Monash University in Australia had already conducted trials into Wolbachia and have found that when introduced to the dengue vector; Aedes aegypti mosquito, it stops the vector from transmitting the dengue virus to humans.
In 2017 alone, dengue had caused over 400 deaths in Sri Lanka.
Biological control methods are more environmentally friendly than fumigation methods and are more effective than trying to control all mosquito breeding sites. The Cabinet paper on the subject had also noted that the bacteria had been successfully used in Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil and Colombia.
The pilot project would be started in Colombo.