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Maintaining Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Infected with Wolbachia
09:23

Maintaining Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Infected with Wolbachia

Published on: August 14, 2017

14.7K

Quantifying the survival uncertainty of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in a spatial model

Martin Strugarek1,2, Nicolas Vauchelet, Jorge P Zubelli

  • 1AgroParisTech, 16 rue Claude Bernard, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering : MBE
|November 1, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Introducing Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes combats arboviruses like dengue. This study models release strategies, determining optimal population sizes and release points for effective invasion and disease control.

Area of Science:

  • Vector-borne disease control
  • Population dynamics modeling
  • Arthropod-borne viral diseases

Background:

  • Artificial releases of Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes are explored for controlling dengue, chikungunya, and Zika.
  • Wolbachia bacteria induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), reduce mosquito lifespan and fecundity, and lower vector competence for arboviruses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the initial population size for successful invasion from a single release source.
  • To ascertain the number of release points required for a high probability of invasion.
  • To analyze the impact of release protocol uncertainties on invasion success.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a framework based on reaction-diffusion models for uncertainty quantification.
  • Theoretical and numerical derivation of lower bounds for release success probability.
  • Analysis of invasion dynamics in a one-dimensional model.

Main Results:

  • Invasion is challenging with a single release source, requiring specific initial conditions.
  • Quantification of the number of release points needed to achieve a desired invasion probability.
  • Assessment of how uncertainties in release strategies affect invasion outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides quantitative insights into optimizing Wolbachia mosquito release strategies for disease vector control.
  • The developed framework aids in assessing invasion probabilities under various release scenarios and uncertainties.
  • Findings are crucial for designing effective field implementations of Wolbachia-based vector control programs.
Keywords:
WolbachiaReaction-diffusion equationmosquito release protocolpopulation replacementuncertainty quantification

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