The world is still dealing with the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic and yet again another disease with pandemic potential has surfaced in Singapore. This small country has recorded nearly 26,000 cases of dengue this year which has exceeded the previous annual record of 22,000 in 2013. With four months still remaining, the authorities are worried about the rising number of infections. The proven method of combating dengue in Singapore is a mosquito launcher.
A mosquito launcher is a device that releases lab-reared male mosquitoes in order to search for female companions to mate but do not reproduce. Dengue in severe cases can even lead to death and is carried by infected mosquitoes to humans. Dr. Ng Lee Ching, official heading the Wolbachia project, says, “But Singapore’s specially bred mosquitoes carry a bacteria that prevents eggs from hatching, and compete with the wild type, leading to a gradual reduction of the mosquito population.”
Using this technique, the count of mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus has gone down by nearly 90% in some areas. In extreme cases, dengue can cause extremely high fever leading to internal bleeding and shock. This has been seen in nearly 20 patients this year. The numbers are alarming because only 27 people in the state died from coronavirus while dengue has killed 20 already. The main factor behind this dengue outbreak is the unseasonably wet weather and the lockdown due to the coronavirus that has left unused factories and construction sites as breeding grounds.
That’s why the government has started employing traditional methods such as fogging and fining people for defying anti-mosquito regulations. To control the dengue outbreak the government is also deploying scientific techniques such as the Wolbachia project. Wolbachia mosquitoes cannot transmit diseases such as dengue. Only female Anopheles mosquitoes can bite humans. Basically, when the male Wolbachia mosquitoes carrying bacteria mate with the females not carrying bacteria, the eggs do not hatch.
This technique has also proven to be successful in Australia. However, experts claim that it might be a difficult technique to employ in dense urban areas of Singapore. Dr. Paul Tambyah, the senior consultant at the Singapore National University, says, “You’ve got to flood the island with these mosquitoes, and people get annoyed. They’re not going to grab the mosquito and see whether it’s a male or female. They’re going to swipe them away and that kind of defeats the purpose.”