An exciting year ahead

As we approach the end of 2010 it is a chance to catch our breath and reflect on the year that has passed. It has been a very busy year for all of the Eliminate Dengue team around the world as we have started the transition from years of laboratory focused research to the start of field trials of our new method for dengue control.

During the year Dr Darlene McNaughton, our community engagement leader in Cairns, left the project to move interstate. I would like to acknowledge the important work Darlene has undertaken over the last two years. She and her team have given over 150 presentations and met with over 3000 individuals through the project’s community engagement activities; communicating the project’s aim, the science involved and responding to your questions and concerns. We wish Darlene well in her new endeavours.

In 2010 we received regulatory approval from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to begin open field testing of the Wolbachia method for dengue control in the Cairns region. This has seen our team expand in Cairns and the opening of our first project office with the first field trials scheduled to commence in January.

We will be providing regular updates to residents of Yorkeys Knob, Gordonvale and the wider Cairns community on how the research is progressing and the results that are being obtained. These updates will be provided through this newsletter, local media articles, presentations, meetings and our website www.eliminatedengue.com

At the same time as we inform you of our work and results, I encourage anyone with questions or concerns to contact the team on our freecall number 1800 811 054.

My best wishes for a safe and very merry christmas and a successful 2011.

Professor Scott O'Neill
Project Leader

The Cairns Team

The project employs more than 30 scientists and researchers around the world each with specialist knowledge related to different aspects of the research, including collaborators at James Cook University, Cairns led by Professor Scott Ritchie and Dr Petrina Johnson.

In preparation for the Cairns field trials the project has opened its first dedicated office and recruited a field implementation team. Led by Brian Montgomery (pictured third from left), formerly of Queensland Health, the team is made up of experienced scientists and casual field officers and includes Fredrico Muzzi from Brazil, Jason Jeffrey from Brisbane, Melinda Greenfield, Martin Durkan and Phil Gibson from Yorkeys Knob and Rodney Bagita from Gordonvale.

Supporting the field team are Administration Officer Andrea Brophy, Community Engagement Officer, Deborah Eastop and Communications Officer, Helen Cook.

The project office is situated at Suite 11, 36 Grafton Street, Cairns and is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am – 5.00pm. Call the office on (07) 4040 2500 or freecall 1800 811 054 (freecall from a landline in Australia). Please send emails to eliminatedengue@uq.edu.au or write to PO Box 6031, Cairns Queensland, 4870, Australia.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Talking and listening

In September we wrote to all residents of Gordonvale and Yorkeys Knob, and made the announcement through local and national media, that the project had received regulatory approval from the Federal Government’s Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to commence field trials in these suburbs in 2011.

We continue to be encouraged by the supportive feedback and enthusiasm for our work when we meet with members of the Cairns community, business groups and elected members and look forward to meeting more community members in the coming months.

If you’re heading to the Carols by Candlelight at Yorkeys Knob on 5th December or Gordonvale on 16th December, look out for our team members there and please say hello.

Questions you have been asking

1. What will the field trials look like and why Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale?

   The goals of the first field release experiments will be to determine how well Wolbachia spreads into the environment given different release conditions and once invaded if the anti-dengue properties will be seen in the wild mosquito population.

   Aedes-aegypti mosquitoes are already found in both Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale and both communities are geographically contained townships surrounded by cane fields or ocean that will allow us to more easily monitor the spread of the Wolbachia into the wild mosquito population.

   Before the field trials commence the project team, with permission from the householder, will manually reduce natural mosquito numbers by emptying out mosquito breeding sites and removing mosquito eggs in these areas. This is being done so that when we subsequently release mosquitoes into the environment the total number of mosquitoes will not exceed the levels that would naturally be present.

   The project team will then, over a period of 12 weeks from January 2011, release on average 10 Wolbachia mosquitoes per house each week. We are seeking permission to enter some yards to release our Wolbachia mosquitoes rather than just release from the street. This will improve the likelihood of success of the project.

   We are also seeking permission to enter yards during this time to leave a small monitoring trap that mosquitoes will enter and lay eggs. A team member will collect and replace this small trap on a fortnightly basis during this 12 week period. We will then assess the collected eggs to understand how well the Wolbachia has spread through the wild Aedes-aegypti population and who well our research is going.

   There is no expectation that mosquito populations during the field trial period will be any higher than they normally would be at this time of year. Total population sizes as well as the numbers of other mosquito species will be monitored during the trial period.

2. When can we expect to see this project being effective in stopping dengue fever in far north Queensland?

   The ‘Eliminate Dengue’ project is a long-term approach, which, if successful, has the potential to benefit an estimated 2.5 billion people currently living in dengue transmission areas.

   If our initial field testing experiments are successful then we might expect to see full implementation and control of dengue in Cairns in a 2-4 year timeframe. If we encounter unexpected difficulties, for example if we were to determine that the Wolbachia infection did not spread easily into wild mosquito populations, then it may take a longer time to fine-tune the approach until we were ready for full deployment.

For answers to more ‘Frequently asked Questions’ (FAQs) visit our website at www.eliminatedengue.com.

If you have a question to put to the team please email: eliminatedengue@uq.edu.au

Update from Vietnam

In addition to developing the Wolbachia method in Australia we are also working with local scientists and field sites in Vietnam where we hope to also test our alternative strategy to eliminate dengue in 2011. Our community engagement at the prospective field site at Tri Nguyen Island in central Vietnam indicates that the overwhelming majority of residents are supportive of a Wolbachia pilot release.

Local residents considered the low cost of implementation and the lack of a requirement for changes in normal day-to-day activities for residents to be positive attributes of the method.

This is the first research project of its kind to be held in Vietnam and the project team is working closely with the Ministry of Health and key stakeholders to ensure correct processes and authorisations similar to Australia’s strict protocols are adhered to. The community of Tri Nguyen has been impressed with the level of detail involved in applying for approval in Australia.

We hope to be announce the approval to proceed with these field trials in the coming months and plan for the first release in late 2011.

Further information

Please visit our website www.eliminatedengue.com, or phone us on 1800 811 054, or email to eliminatedengue@uq.edu.au for more information.

Eliminate Dengue is funded by:

• The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in
  Global Health Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Queensland Government
• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
• McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health at the University of Toronto