Queensland all the buzz in South-East Asia
A world-first, ecologically friendly mosquito control program developed in Queensland is saving lives in Vietnam.
Mosquito-borne dengue fever causes 50 million infections annually in more than 90 countries. But it may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a world-first breakthrough which has seen the successful elimination of the breeding of dengue-carrying mosquitos in 42 of 46 communities trialled in Vietnam.
Professor Brian Kay, Laboratory Head of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) says the ground-breaking method of mosquito control uses natural predators rather than insecticides which in turn reduces the effects of harmful chemicals. "
QIMR scientists in Brisbane have come up with a way to use tiny micro-crustaceans called copepods which prey on mosquito larvae, particularly the aedes aegyptii mosquito which is the major carrier of dengue fever," Professor Kay said.
"No cases of dengue fever have been reported in any of the 42 communities in Vietnam since 2001. To date, more than 400 000 people have been protected from dengue fever which previously was one of the biggest killers of children under the age of five in Vietnam."
The World Health Organisation has acknowledged the program as one of the most successful ever implemented.
"The major reason for the success of the copepod trial is because it has been embraced by local health personnel and the communities themselves who have been active in the control program," Professor Kay said.
The Queensland-developed control method has great potential to be successful in countries around the entire equatorial band, especially in regions which do not have an adequate piped-water supply.
"In places where people rely on big earthenware jars, concrete tanks and 200 litre drums to provide their water, dengue mosquitoes colonise like crazy," Professor Kay said.
"The spread, incidence and severity of dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever are increasing in the Americas, South-East Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific with some 2.5 billion to 3 billion people living in areas where dengue viruses can be transmitted."
QIMR has strong affiliations and several other notable research projects in the South-East Asia region. A QIMR-developed vaccine against malaria is in pre-clinical studies while QIMR scientists are close to trialling an "immunotherapy" treatment against Naso-pharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC), an aggressive nose and throat cancer prevalent in people of Chinese and Taiwanese descent.
QIMR scientists are also developing a vaccine against schistosomiaisis, a common parasitic infection and they are looking at better methods of controlling a liver fluke which causes cancer in the Asian region.
Last reviewed 19 January 2006
Thanks to Queensland scientists, children in the Mekong Region of southern
Vietnam no longer have to contend with dengue fever.