Experts to tackle dengue with ‘infected’ mosquitoes

Swine flu kills 1,300 Indians

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 30, (Agencies): Brazilian scientists on Tuesday began to unleash the first of millions of mosquitoes infected with a bacteria meant to prevent the insects from transmitting the dengue virus to humans.

Thousands of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the bacteria were released in front of journalists by scientists from the Fiocruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro.

The hope is that they will then breed and spread the bacteria, denting the insect population’s ability to spread dengue and other viruses including Zika and chikungunya.

Scientists have been preparing the project — developed by Australians who first put the Wolbachia bacteria into mosquitoes — since last year.

Dengue causes fevers, rashes, nausea and in some cases can be fatal, while Zika has been blamed for serious birth defects.

In 2016, fears over Zika led to the United Nations health body to declare an international health emergency, ending in November.

Fiocruz plans to release 1.6 million infected mosquitoes a week, later stepping that up to three million.

“We found that when an Aedes aegypti mosquito has this (bacteria), it blocks or reduces the capacity of the mosquito to transmit viruses like dengue, Zika and chikungunya,” said the head of the dengue program at Fiocruz, Luciano Moreiro.

“So the idea is that when they are released, they will transmit this, as if they were immunizing the other mosquitoes and therefore transmission will be reduced.”

Number of deaths caused by swine flu (H1N1) in India has touched 1,323 while around 25,000 people are infected by the deadly disease, local media reports said quoting government sources on Wednesday. In west-central Indian state of Maharashtra, considered to be the most affected, at least 450 people were reported dead due by the swine flu while 4,245 more are infected, the reports said.

In the western Indian state of Gujarat, the death toll due to the virus rose to 349 while around 3,600 confirmed swine flu cases are existing. In the Western Indian state of Goa the (H1N1) has claimed 269 lives and affected 3029 others. An earlier report from the Ministry of Health, however, put the death toll in the national capital New Delhi at just two though the number of swine flu cases stood at 1,719. Meanwhile, North Indian state of Rajasthan reported five more deaths on Tuesday to take the number of deaths caused by the flu to 89 while 651 confirmed H1N1 cases are registered since January until Aug 29. Four new deaths were reported on Tuesday due to the virus-born disease while 2,473 confirmed cases were reported in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll since the beginning of 2017 till August from 29 to 61. In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, the death toll from swine flu touched 30 today while there are 311 more confirmed cases. The southern Indian state of Kerala also reported 73 casualties and 1,374 confirmed cases of swine flue.

Other south Indian states of Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu are also under the grip of the deadly disease.

In the City, a Rio slum made famous by a movie of the same name, the local clinic used to treat minor ailments like the flu or stomach aches.

In recent months, however, it has come to operate more like a field hospital in a war zone, handling an increasing number of bullet wounds.

Last Friday, at 10 pm, the first patient arrived: a bulky 38-yearold with a gunshot to the hand, and signs of a beating over all his body, leaving a trail of blood as he was taken into the emergency room.

While babies with fevers cried on their mothers’ necks and some senior citizens waited to be seen, the doctors and nurses on duty gave him first aid with their basic supplies so he could be transported to a nearby hospital with the necessary surgical staff and facilities.

The scene repeated itself early Monday, though more dramatically: an intense shootout between heavily armed cops and drug dealers shut down the favela as bullets flew wild.

Three patients with bullet wounds turned up at the same time, filling all but one of the emergency room beds. The three — a 17-year-old boy shot in the chest, a 63-year-old man wounded in the belly, and an 82-year-old woman who was struck in the chest as she slept in her home.

“We are doing war medicine, literally, because on top of those shot, the (clinical) units are located in conflict zones,” the head of the 24-hour clinic, Luiz Alexandre Essinger, told AFP.