Aedes aegypti
mosquitoes carrying the
w
AlbB
Wolbachia
strain show a reduced capacity to transmit dengue virus.
w
AlbB has been introduced into wild
Ae. aegypti
populations in several field sites in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where it has persisted at high frequency for more than 2 years and significantly reduced dengue incidence. Although these encouraging results indicate that
w
AlbB releases can be an effective dengue control strategy, the long-term success depends on
w
AlbB maintaining high population frequencies and virus transmission inhibition, and both could be compromised by
Wolbachia–
host coevolution in the field. Here,
w
AlbB-carrying
Ae. aegypti
collected from the field 20 months after the cessation of releases showed no reduction in
Wolbachia
density or tissue distribution changes compared to a
w
AlbB laboratory colony. The
w
AlbB strain continued to induce complete unidirectional cytoplasmic incompatibility, showed perfect maternal transmission under laboratory conditions, and retained its capacity to inhibit dengue. Additionally, a field-collected
w
AlbB line was challenged with Malaysian dengue patient blood, and showed significant blocking of virus dissemination to the salivary glands. These results indicate that
w
AlbB continues to inhibit currently circulating strains of dengue in field populations of
Ae. aegypti
, and provides additional support for the continued scale-up of
Wolbachia
wAlbB releases for dengue control.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne diseases’.
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