A standalone incompatible insect technique enables mosquito suppression in the urban subtropics

• Published in: Communications biology 2022-12, Vol.5 (1), p.1419-13, Article 1419
• Main Authors: Zeng, Qin, She, Lingzhi, Yuan, Hao, Luo, Yuying, Wang, Renke, Mao, Wei, Wang, Weifeng, She, Yueting, Wang, Chaojun, Shi, Mengyi, Cao, Ting, Gan, Renxian, Li, Yongjun, Zhou, Jiayi, Qian, Wei, Hu, Shixiong, Wang, Yong, Zheng, Xiaoying, Li, Kuibiao, Bai, Lianyang, Pan, Xiaoling, Xi, Zhiyong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 38/22; 45/23; 45/77; 631/1647/2234; 631/326/2522; 692/308/575; Aedes; Aedes albopictus; Animals; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Culicidae; Dengue - prevention & control; Dengue fever; Female; Larva; Life Sciences; Low temperature; Male; Males; Mass rearing; Mosquito Control - methods; Mosquitoes; Population Dynamics; Radiation; Subtropical zones; Urban populations; Wolbachia
• ISSN: 2399-3642; 2399-3642
• DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04332-6

The strong suppression of Aedes albopictus on two Guangzhou islands in China has been successfully achieved by releasing males with an artificial triple- Wolbachia infection. However, it requires the use of radiation to sterilize residual females to prevent population replacement. To develop a highly effective tool for dengue control, we tested a standalone incompatible insect technique (IIT) to control A. albopictus in the urban area of Changsha, an inland city where dengue recently emerged. Male mosquitoes were produced in a mass rearing facility in Guangzhou and transported over 670 km under low temperature to the release site. After a once-per-week release with high numbers of males (phase I) and a subsequent twice-per-week release with low numbers of males (phase II), the average numbers of hatched eggs and female adults collected weekly per trap were reduced by 97% and 85%, respectively. The population suppression caused a 94% decrease in mosquito biting at the release site compared to the control site. Remarkably, this strong suppression was achieved using only 28% of the number of males released in a previous trial. Despite the lack of irradiation to sterilize residual females, no triple-infected mosquitoes were detected in the field post release based on the monitoring of adult and larval A. albopictus populations for two years, indicating that population replacement was prevented. Our results support the feasibility of implementing a standalone IIT for dengue control in urban areas. A field trial in Changsha, China, involving the release of a triple Wolbachia -infected strain of the mosquito, Aedes albopictus , demonstrates the feasibility of using an incompatible insect technique to suppress disease vector mosquito populations in urban subtropic environments.