Cabinet approval to use ‘Wolbachia’ to control spreading of dengue in Colombo District

By Sandun A Jayasekera  

In a bid to control the fast escalating number of dengue cases, in a Covid 19 devastated Sri Lanka, the Cabinet on Monday approved the use of bacterium ‘Wolbachia’ to control the spreading of dengue in the Colombo District as a pilot project.   Cabinet spokesman, Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said an international research cooperation programme named “Global Mosquito Programme had been implemented by the University of Monash in Australia to control the diseases spread by mosquitoes with the objective of protecting global population from the diseases such as Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya and Hepatitis through new biological control systems.  
‘Wolbachia’ bacteria have been introduced under this programme to minimize the spread of dengue virus through minimizing the reproduction of the virus found in the Aedes mosquito that spread Dengue.