We need your support

to help eliminate dengue

The Eliminate Dengue research program is developing a natural
approach to control the spread of dengue. We would like to
conduct field trials of our method in the Cairns suburbs of
Whitfield, Edge Hill, Parramatta Park and Westcourt.
The field trials will involve releasing small numbers of mosquitoes that
contain Wolbachia. These mosquitoes will mate with wild mosquitoes and
pass the Wolbachia into the wild mosquito population.
We will track how well Wolbachia establishes in the wild mosquito
population. Mosquitoes that carry Wolbachia have a greatly reduced ability
to transmit dengue.
We have previously released Wolbachia mosquitoes in Yorkeys Knob,
Gordonvale, Machans Beach, and Babinda. Any trials would only proceed
with community support and government approval.

About the field trial

1

Release of Wolbachia
mosquitoes

Trap and monitor

mosquitoes

Our Research
The mosquito Aedes aegypti (pictured
below) is responsible for transmitting
dengue viruses between people.
We have shown introducing Wolbachia,
a natural bacterium, into the mosquito
acts like a vaccine and reduces its
ability to transmit dengue.

Project Timeline
2008: Laboratory work shows that
Wolbachia blocks dengue viruses
2009: Opening of the Mosquito
Research Facility (MRF) at
James Cook University, Cairns
2009 - 2011: Experiments undertaken
in the MRF show Wolbachia
spreads in mosquito populations
2010: The Australian Government
gives our research approval to
proceed to field trials

Cairns Trials
Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale
2011: Wolbachia mosquitoes released
2012/13: Ongoing monitoring
Machans Beach and Babinda
2012: Wolbachia mosquitoes released
2012/13: Ongoing monitoring

We would release Wolbachia

mosquitoes once a week for a
number of months. We may release
from the footpath near homes or
may need to enter yards. We will not
release mosquitoes at your property
if you do not want us to do so.

We will ask some registered participants

in the area to host a mosquito trap
before, during and after the release
period. We will collect the mosquitoes
from the trap once a week to see how
many are Wolbachia mosquitoes. We
will let the community know the results.

Planned field trials 2012/13

Whitfield
Edge Hill
Parramatta Park
Westcourt

How to support the field trial

Support for the trial is on a voluntary basis. If you live in Whitfield,
Edge Hill, Parramatta Park or Westcourt, we hope you will register
to participate in the trial by completing a Participation Form.

Contact us on 1800 811 054* or cairns@eliminatedengue.com

*Free call from a landline in Australia

A natural control method

How we hope to control dengue Our aim is to stop the Aedes aegypti
mosquito from passing the dengue virus between humans (Diagram A). We have found that
when Wolbachia is introduced into the Aedes aegypti mosquito it acts like a vaccine for the
mosquito and reduces its ability to pass the dengue virus to people (Diagram B).
When mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia are introduced into the environment they mate with
wild mosquitoes, and pass Wolbachia to their offspring. Over time Wolbachia spreads into
mosquito populations so that all mosquitoes carry Wolbachia (Diagram C). Our research and
independent analysis has concluded that Wolbachia is not harmful to humans, animals or
the environment.

A. How dengue is
transmitted

Wolbachia is a naturally occurring

bacterium that is present in up to 70% of
all different types of insects including the
Cairns Birdwing butterfly (pictured above).

That person
gets dengue
4-13 days later

2
Dengue infected mosquito
bites another person

Eliminate Dengue is funded by

The Foundation for the National Institutes
of Health through the Grand Challenges
in Global Health Initiative of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The National and International Research
Alliances Program of the Queensland
Government
The National Health and Medical
Research Council of Australia
The Flagship Collaboration Fund,
CSIRO, Australia

Mosquito ingests
blood with dengue
virus. Takes 10-12
days for dengue
virus to incubate.

B. Wolbachia blocks
dengue virus

To find out more about the progress of our

work visit www.eliminatedengue.com
and subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Eliminate Dengue is a not-for-profit,

international research collaboration led
from Monash University, Melbourne with
many partnering institutions including
James Cook University, Cairns and the
University of Melbourne.

Bites dengue
infected person

It does not occur naturally in the

mosquito that transmits dengue but
when introduced it reduces the ability
of the mosquito to transmit dengue
between people.
The Eliminate Dengue Program,
in addition to developing the Wolbachia
method for the control of dengue in
Australia, is also working with local
scientists and field sites in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Brazil and China.

Wild
Aedes aegypti

That person
doesnt get
dengue

Wolbachia
Aedes aegypti

Bites dengue
infected person

Dengue infected
mosquito with Wolbachia
bites another person

Mosquito ingests blood

with dengue virus Wolbachia blocks the
dengue virus

C. Wolbachia dengue control method

Wild mosquitoes
with no
Wolbachia

Wolbachia mosquitoes
released

Wolbachia
spreads in the
wild mosquito
population

All mosquitoes
have Wolbachia

0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100 11 112
Approximate
A
i t number
b off weeks
k released
l
d

Visit the Cairns project oce at: Suite 11/36 Grafton St, Cairns, Monday - Friday 8.30am 5.00pm
Visit the program website www.eliminatedengue.com for research progress updates
October 2012