Instead of killing mosquitoes, one strategy infects them with a harmless bacterium and lets them breed. The trick works because that bacterium blocks the dengue and Zika viruses from growing inside the mosquito at all.
mcqquestion.com
The Wolbachia Method
Fighting dengue & Zika without killing mosquitoes
WhatA bacterium blocking virus growth in mosquitoes
TargetsDengue, Zika, chikungunya (Aedes aegypti)
Since 2011Deployed in 14+ countries
Not KillingSpreads via breeding, doesn’t exterminate
Q67 answer: (a) Controlling the viral diseases spread by mosquitoes.
🏛️ Must Know
What the Wolbachia Method Is
- A Vector-Control Technique The Wolbachia method is used with reference to controlling viral diseases spread by mosquitoes — specifically dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, spread by Aedes aegypti.
- A Natural Bacterium Wolbachia is a naturally occurring bacterium that, when present in a mosquito, blocks dengue and Zika viruses from growing and spreading inside its body.
- Doesn’t Kill Mosquitoes Unlike insecticide-based control, the method doesn’t kill mosquitoes — it releases Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes to breed with wild ones, spreading the bacterium through the population over time.
- Proven Since 2011 Field trials began in Cairns, Australia in 2011; the method has since been deployed in over a dozen countries including Indonesia, Brazil, and Vietnam.
🏘️ Good to Know
How It Actually Works
- Cytoplasmic Incompatibility One strategy releases Wolbachia-infected males, which cause infertile eggs when they mate with uninfected wild females — suppressing the overall mosquito population.
- Population Replacement A second strategy releases both infected males and females, letting the bacterium spread naturally through the population, replacing disease-transmitting mosquitoes with ones that can’t spread the virus.
- Real Impact Wolbachia infection reduces a mosquito’s ability to transmit viral infections and shortens its lifespan, both of which cut disease spread.
- A Complementary Tool The Wolbachia method targets the mosquito vector itself, while GenSci0033 — India’s First Dengue Vaccine takes a different approach, protecting people directly through immunisation.
Test Yourself
📝 Previous Year Question
UPSC CSP 2023 — The Wolbachia Method
- UPSC 2023 The Wolbachia method is talked about with reference to controlling viral diseases spread by mosquitoes. See UPSC CSP 2023 GS Paper I, Q67.
Beyond the answer
Browse all general-science topics →
📚 Keep reading
UPSC CSP 2023 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)GenSci0008 — Diseases: Communicable and Non-CommunicableUPSC CSP 2017 — General Studies Paper I (Full Question Paper)GenSci0033 — India's First Dengue VaccineEnvEco0182 – Lemongrass: The Grass Behind Natural Mosquito Repellents❓ Practice this topic
Besides livestock cloning, what is SCNT technology also being explored for?Roughly how many SCNT attempts did it take to produce Dolly the sheep as a live birth?Which animal was the first mammal successfully cloned via Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer?In Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, what happens to the nucleus of the egg cell used?🎲 Take a General Science Quiz
Leave a Reply