Giving Compass' Take:

• James Gallagher reports that the intentional infections of mosquitos with Wolbachia bacteria successfully reduces Dengue fever cases.

• How can funders work to build on this success? 

• Learn about Europe's risk from the spread of tropical-insect borne diseases. 

Dengue fever is caused by a virus that is spread from person to person by blood-sucking mosquitoes.

In the worst cases, people develop "dengue haemorrhagic fever", which kills 25,000 people a year around the world.

Recruiting a bacterial ally that infects mosquitoes has led to huge reductions in cases of dengue fever, trials around the world show.

Wolbachia bacteria make it harder for the insects to spread the virus, rather than kill them off.

Researchers say the findings are a "big deal" with cases falling by more than 70% in field trials.

New ways of controlling dengue are urgently needed as cases have exploded worldwide in the past 50 years.

There are multiple trials going on around the world - one has published in the journal Current Biology, and scientists are discussing other data at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

The evidence shows:

  • A 40% reduction overall, but up to 90%, in dengue cases in trials in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • A 76% reduction in dengue cases in trials in Java, Indonesia
  • A 70% reduction in dengue cases in trials in Niterói, a city near Rio in Brazil
  • Transmission has stopped in far North Queensland, Australia

"Dengue control is extremely challenging, these results are a big deal," Prof Sinkins, who worked in Kuala Lumpur, told the BBC.

Read the full article about addressing Dengue fever by James Gallagher at BBC.