Stable establishment of wMel Wolbachia in Aedes aegypti populations in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Warsito Tantowijoyo, Bekti Andari, Eggi Arguni, Nida Budiwati, Indah Nurhayati, Iva Fitriana, Inggrid Ernesia, Edwin W Daniwijaya, Endah Supriyati, Dedik H Yusdiana, Munasdi Victorius, Dwi S Wardana, Hilmi Ardiansyah, Riris Andono Ahmad, Peter A Ryan, Cameron P Simmons, Ary A Hoffmann, Edwige Rancès, Andrew P Turley, Petrina Johnson, Adi Utarini, Scott L O'Neill
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008157; https://doaj.org/article/71c13eca14a64bdda719604837dfcafd

The successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia for the control of arbovirus transmission by Aedes aegypti has been proposed and is being implemented in a number of countries. Here we describe the successful establishment of the wMel strain of Wolbachia in four sites in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We demonstrate that Wolbachia can be successfully introgressed after transient releases of wMel-infected eggs or adult mosquitoes. We demonstrate that the approach is acceptable to communities and that Wolbachia maintains itself in the mosquito population once deployed. Finally, our data show that spreading rates of Wolbachia in the Indonesian setting are slow which may reflect more limited dispersal of Aedes aegypti than seen in other sites such as Cairns, Australia.