Suppression of a Field Population of Aedes aegypti in Brazil by Sustained Release of Transgenic Male Mosquitoes

The increasing burden of dengue, and the relative failure of traditional vector control programs highlight the need to develop new control methods. SIT using self-limiting genetic technology is one such promising method. A self-limiting strain of Aedes aegypti, OX513A, has already reached the stage...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 9; no. 7; p. e0003864
Main Authors:	Carvalho, Danilo O., McKemey, Andrew R., Garziera, Luiza, Lacroix, Renaud, Donnelly, Christl A., Alphey, Luke, Malavasi, Aldo, Capurro, Margareth L.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 2015 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Adult Aedes - genetics Aedes - physiology Animal reproduction Animals Animals, Genetically Modified - genetics Animals, Genetically Modified - physiology Brazil - epidemiology Dengue - epidemiology Dengue - prevention & control Dengue - transmission Epidemics Female Humans Infectious diseases Insect Vectors - genetics Insect Vectors - physiology Malaria Male Males Mathematical models Methods Mosquitoes Pest Control, Biological - methods Population Studies Vaccines Brazil
ISSN:	1935-2735, 1935-2727, 1935-2735
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The increasing burden of dengue, and the relative failure of traditional vector control programs highlight the need to develop new control methods. SIT using self-limiting genetic technology is one such promising method. A self-limiting strain of Aedes aegypti, OX513A, has already reached the stage of field evaluation. Sustained releases of OX513A Ae. aegypti males led to 80% suppression of a target wild Ae. aegypti population in the Cayman Islands in 2010. Here we describe sustained series of field releases of OX513A Ae. aegypti males in a suburb of Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil. This study spanned over a year and reduced the local Ae. aegypti population by 95% (95% CI: 92.2%-97.5%) based on adult trap data and 81% (95% CI: 74.9-85.2%) based on ovitrap indices compared to the adjacent no-release control area. The mating competitiveness of the released males (0.031; 95% CI: 0.025-0.036) was similar to that estimated in the Cayman trials (0.059; 95% CI: 0.011-0.210), indicating that environmental and target-strain differences had little impact on the mating success of the OX513A males. We conclude that sustained release of OX513A males may be an effective and widely useful method for suppression of the key dengue vector Ae. aegypti. The observed level of suppression would likely be sufficient to prevent dengue epidemics in the locality tested and other areas with similar or lower transmission.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Undefined-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 Conceived and designed the experiments: ARM DOC MLC LA AM. Performed the experiments: ARM DOC LG RL. Analyzed the data: ARM RL DOC CAD. Wrote the paper: ARM RL LA DOC MLC. Supervised research: ARM MLC LA AM. I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Those authors affiliated to Oxitec Ltd. (ARM, DOC, RL and LA) are/or were employees of this company, which therefore provided salary and other support for the research program. Also, such employees may have shares or share options in Oxitec Ltd. Both Oxitec Ltd. and Oxford University have one or more patents or patent applications related to the subject of this paper. LG, CAD, MLC, AM have no patent interests, shares, or share options in Oxitec or any other entity for this technology. This does not alter our adherence to all PLOS policies on sharing data and materials.
ISSN:	1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pntd.0003864