Oxitec Expands Friendly™ Aedes Technology in Brazil in Support of City Dengue Control Program as Dengue Season Begins
PRESS RELEASE – 24 November 2020
Oxitec Expands Friendly™ Aedes Technology in Brazil in Support of City Dengue Control Program as Dengue Season Begins
o Oxitec and the City of Indaiatuba’s dengue control program began deploying Friendly™ Aedes aegypti just-add-water boxes across larger areas of the city for the 2020 – 2021 mosquito season
o Expanded deployment follows ground-breaking pilot and full biosafety approval from CTNBio, Brazil’s national biosafety regulatory authority
o The environmentally friendly technology will equip governments and communities with a safe, affordable, and sustainable Aedes aegypti solution
Oxford, U.K. – Oxitec, in collaboration with the dengue control program in the City of Indaiatuba, State of São Paulo, Brazil, began activating Friendly™ Aedes aegypti just-add-water boxes across the city for the 2020 - 2021 mosquito season. The scale-up deployment builds on the successful pilot program last year when, following just 13 weeks of treatment, the technology suppressed up to 95%* of disease-carrying Aedes aegypti in several Indaiatuba neighbourhoods.
The devices use Oxitec’s proprietary system for deploying safe, non-toxic, non-biting male Aedes aegypti technology via egg packets in small recyclable boxes filled with a small quantity of water. Oxitec’s male mosquitoes, which carry a self-limiting gene, then emerge and disperse to mate with invasive, dengue-transmitting female Aedes aegypti.
Independent research found community support for the project was overwhelmingly high, with 94% of 1,200 residents surveyed in favour of Friendly™ mosquito technology and its use in their neighbourhoods.
Grey Frandsen, CEO of Oxitec said, “The City of Indaiatuba is on the forefront of embracing innovative, safe, and highly-effective solutions to combat dengue-transmitting mosquitoes to protect its residents and communities. That’s why we are so pleased to be expanding our collaboration with the City. Together, we will be scaling up the use of Friendly™ Aedes aegypti technology, further demonstrating its importance as an effective, safe and environmentally sustainable tool. We couldn’t ask for a better partner, and this project could not come at a more important time as COVID-19 and dengue both have an impact throughout Brazil.”
The Health Secretary of Indaiatuba Dr. Graziela Garcia said, “Indaiatuba is privileged to have Oxitec’s Friendly™ Aedes aegypti technology because without this solution we could have two epidemics together, COVID-19 and dengue. Our results with this technology are remarkable and we are happy to be able to expand the project.”
Natalia Ferreira, General Director of Oxitec Brazil said, “Today’s announcement is a milestone for our team and the partners who have worked side-by-side with us to make our project a reality. The successful pilot projects conducted last year and high levels of support for them demonstrated the value of Friendly™ Aedes aegypti technology for communities in our country that are working to combat the growing threat of dengue. This scale up deployment is the next step towards making this safe and sustainable technology accessible throughout Brazil.”
Oxitec’s just-add-water technology represents a major advancement in safe, targeted vector control providing governments and communities with an innovative, powerful solution designed for simplicity, scalability, and economic sustainability.
The technology unlocks the benefits of this public health solution for governments, communities and other end-users of all types and income levels.
In May 2020, Oxitec received full biosafety approval for this technology from Brazil’s national biosafety regulatory authority CTNBio after demonstrating the technology’s full safety to human health and the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this year granted Oxitec an Experimental Use Permit (EUP) for piloting the same technology in the United States.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are 390 million dengue infections per year, with approximately half of the world’s population at risk. The number of dengue cases reported to the WHO has increased more than 15-fold during the past two decades. Brazil’s dengue cases increased almost 600% from 2018 to 2019. Aedes aegypti is an invasive mosquito found throughout the world that also spreads Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
*95% was the highest 2-week rolling average, the individual weekly high was 98%; the highest 4-week rolling average was 92%.
About Oxitec
Oxitec is a pioneer in biological solutions to safely and sustainably control insect pests that spread disease and damage crops. Oxitec was founded in 2002 as a spinout from the University of Oxford (UK) and is made up of a passionate and diverse team comprised of 15 nationalities.
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