Despite the ongoing challenges, Entomologist Perran Ross is upbeat about Wolbachia’s role in stopping dengue around the world
A Melbourne-based scientist has crossed all limits of dedication to find a cure for diseases such as dengue, zika and other viruses that are spread by mosquitoes. Entomologist Perran Ross fed himself to thousands of mozzies to find a cure for the disease.
The researcher, on Twitter, shared a gif of himself getting bitten by mosquitoes. The gif showed Ross’s arm as lunch for a swarm of mosquitoes infected with a bacterium ‘Wolbachia’.
Our study on inbreeding and laboratory adaptation in mosquitoes is out now! https://t.co/AnE8KU5aJR pic.twitter.com/ckUadL6ChD
— Perran Ross (@MosWhisperer) November 28, 2018
The formatted version of this thesis is available online
Formatted version is now online:https://t.co/ndkCOKKscP
— Perran Ross (@MosWhisperer) December 17, 2018
He also shared an image getting his arm bitten by mosquitoes, and wrote, “Record day of mosquito blood-feeding today. ~5000 female mosquitoes fed and 16 mL of blood lost.”
Record day of mosquito blood feeding today. ~5000 female mosquitoes fed and 16 mL of blood lost. pic.twitter.com/7OzeQ9rGl7
— Perran Ross (@MosWhisperer) May 7, 2020
https://twitter.com/MosWhisperer/status/942694857457385472?s=20
Despite the ongoing challenges, Ross is upbeat about Wolbachia’s role in stopping dengue around the world. Ross explains that “It is going to be expensive and it requires a lot of community engagement and planning.” “But I think it’s possible,” he added.
Many netizens reacted to his video shared of his experiments with mosquitoes
How do you make sure you don’t get any diseases from them?
— E m
+
= happy (she/her) (@em_sci) May 8, 2020
Good to see that you are wearing gloves! They prevent you from contact with potenitial insect allergenes
Or is it a COVID precaution?
— Dr. Ewa Chrostek (@EwaChrostek) May 7, 2020
A lot of people are asking why I do it. These mosquitoes need blood to lay eggs, which we use for scientific research. We work with mosquitoes carrying bacteria called Wolbachia which are being released around the world to control dengue.https://t.co/I6bACql1i7
— Perran Ross (@MosWhisperer) May 9, 2020
