Ipoh city council workers are seen fogging drains in Taman Meru, Ipoh March 27, 2018. ― Picture by Farhan Najib
“This year we have a new strategy in controlling and eradicating dengue. Together with the Health Ministry we are trying to control it using the Wolbachia bacterium. This bacterium is common among insects but it does not infect the“However, we have successfully infected Aedes mosquito eggs with Wolbachia and we will release the infected eggs into the dengue hotspots. Once these eggs hatched and they mate with other aedes in the wild it will infect the future generations.
She said Malaysia is the 10th country to pioneer the Wolbachia research and would be the second country after Australia to release Aedes eggs infected with Wolbachia to battle the growing epidemic. Hulu Bernam assemblyman Datuk Rosni Sohar then pointed out that Selangor had the highest dengue infections in the country with 18,2015 cases reported with 17 deaths this year.