Mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia – a type of bacteria with the potential to prevent the spread of dengue fever –were released in Vinh Luong commune in the central province of Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang city on March 6^th.

Vietnamese and Australian experts release anti-dengue mosquitoes in Nha Trang. (Photo: VNA)

This is the first time that these anti-dengue mosquitoes have been released in mainland Vietnam, following the success of a previous release on Tri Nguyen island in 2014.

The mosquitoes will continue to be released in eight villages in the commune over the next 12-18 weeks, 100 per week.

This is the result of a project on eliminating dengue fever in Vietnam, jointly implemented by domestic health institutes and Australian experts.

Dang Duc Anh, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said this method will help control dengue fever, not only in the commune but also at other localities in the country.

Wolbachia are natural bacteria present in up to 60 per cent of insect species, including some mosquitoes. When implanted into mosquitoes, they have the ability to inhibit the development of the dengue virus, Zika virus, and some other viruses that are transmitted through mosquitoes.

Dengue fever has become one of the serious problems for the community health, particularly following the surge in dengue fever cases in 2017.

Last year, 183,287 cases of dengue fever were reported nationwide, mostly in the south and the north, including 154,552 hospitalised patients and 30 deaths./.

VNF/VNA