Source: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Written by: Zhongshan School of Medicine
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

From 8th to 11th of November 2015, the “Annual Meeting of Field Trial to Develop Wolbachia and its Integration with SIT for Dengue Vector Control in China” was held in Sun Yat-sen University (North Campus). Prof. Mengfeng Li, Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University and Dean of Zhongshan School of Medicine, delivered an opening address. Prof. Zhongdao Wu, Secretary of the CPC Committee in Zhongshan School of Medicine and Director of Department of Parasitology, presided at the opening ceremony. 
 

Prof. Mengfeng Li, Vice President of Sun Yat-sen University and Dean of Zhongshan School of Medicine, delivers an opening address.
 

The meeting was attended by renowned experts and scientists from different institutions both home and abroad, including the Joint Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), University of Melbourne, University of Kentucky, Michigan State University (MSU), University of California at Riverside (UC Riverside), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and Government College University (GCU in Pakistan). Also present at the meeting were representatives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), Singapore National Environment Agency, Delhi Dialogue Commission, Google Inc., Senecio Ltd., and government functionaries from the Ministry of Agriculture of China, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC), Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, Patriotic Health Campaign Committee of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Municipal Patriotic Health Campaign Committee, and the Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangzhou.
 

A scene of the meeting
 

At the meeting, Prof. Zhiyong Xi, Director of SYSU – MSU Joint Center of Vector Control for Tropical Diseases, presented the progressive results on mosquito control in the Wolbachia-based Project. “The experiment in the field site in Nansha District has been successful” Prof. Zhiyong Xi said. The Aedes albopictus population of the field site was 3% of that of the control site. In other words, the population suppression rate has reached 97%. In the last two weeks, the larvae suppression rate was even up to 100%. Delegates from Australia and America also shared their research progress and practice of Wolbachia-based Project in their countries.

Later, participants of the meeting visited the mosquito mass rearing facilities in Guangzhou Science City and the field site in Nansha District. The control and prevention of dengue fever mainly depend on vector control. As traditional chemical methods are inefficient and often result in environmental pollutions, a more effective, sustainable and eco-friendly vector control method is urgently in demand. Wolbachia technology has brought new hope in the solution. Attendees at the meeting highly appraised the project and expressed their readiness to participate in the international cooperation and extension of Wolbachia technology.