World Mosquito Program and Debug will collaborate to combat mosquito-borne diseases

The World Mosquito Program (WMP) of Monash University and Debug by Alphabet announced today that they are teaming up to explore a collaboration to deploy automated releases of Wolbachia Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to combat mosquito-borne diseases. This collaboration will leverage WMP's proven Wolbachia replacement method and Debug's proprietary rearing and release technologies to rapidly scale programs that reduce the transmission of diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

WMP has been at the forefront of innovative approaches in Wolbachia replacement programs globally. This safe and sustainable approach has been shown to significantly reduce the ability of mosquitoes to transmit viruses. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 77% reduction in dengue incidence in areas where Wolbachia was deployed in field trials conducted by WMP in Yogyakarta, Indonesia[1]. Further results in Colombia’s Aburrá Valley and the Brazilian city of Niterói show the lowest number of dengue cases in more than 20 years, following WMP’s Wolbachia releases.

Debug has developed proprietary end-to-end technology that includes automated rearing robots, AI powered visual sex sorting systems, data surveillance, and release platforms to efficiently deploy Wolbachia suppression programs in several countries. Debug’s automated release platform on vehicles enables coverage of large areas more effectively than manual methods while leveraging software for targeted distribution.

The collaboration between WMP and Debug brings together two global leaders in the fight against vector-borne disease. By combining the respective expertise and compatible values on global health impact, the collaboration aims to accelerate progress of current and future Wolbachia programs to reduce the global burden from mosquito-borne diseases.

• Synergistic Approach: Debug's proprietary technologies can be integrated with WMP's Wolbachia replacement method to increase efficiency and coverage.
• Innovation and Scalability: The alliance will foster innovation and the development of scalable solutions that can be implemented in diverse settings.
• Global Health Impact: This complementary collaboration has the potential to protect more people from the devastating effects of mosquito-borne diseases.

Linus Upson, founder of Debug, shared “We are excited about the opportunity to partner with WMP. In addition to utilizing the technology we have built to deliver Debug's proven Wolbachia suppression programs, we can provide our proprietary technology to deliver automated releases in WMP’s Wolbachia replacement programs worldwide. This is an exciting moment to unify groundbreaking biological and technological achievements to make a global impact.”

Scott O’Neill, CEO and Founder of the World Mosquito Program, said “Debug’s automated release technologies have the potential to significantly increase the speed and efficiency of our Wolbachia releases, accelerating our goal of protecting as many people as possible worldwide.”

Kieran Walters, Executive Director of Strategy & Partnerships of the World Mosquito Program, shared “We are thrilled to form an alliance with Debug to combat one of the biggest global health threats of the 21st century. By combining our technologies, we can deliver an integrated solution to protect vulnerable communities from mosquito-borne diseases on an unprecedented scale.”

About World Mosquito Program

The World Mosquito Program (WMP) is a not-for-profit group of companies wholly owned by Monash University, Australia, that works to protect the global community from mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. After effectively eliminating transmission of these viruses from Australia, WMP has expanded to now be working in 16 countries across Asia, Oceania and the Americas, protecting more than 13.5 million people. For more information, please visit World Mosquito Program.

More information about WMP’s Wolbachia Method

Wolbachia – a common bacterium found in about 50 percent of insects – is introduced in the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever. The Wolbachia bacterium prevents the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes from transmitting these diseases.

The Wolbachia mosquitoes are then released in areas where mosquito-borne viruses are endemic. As they breed with wild mosquitoes, the number of Wolbachia mosquitoes grows over time until it remains high without the need for further releases.

Unlike other measures against mosquito-borne diseases, the Wolbachia method is safe for people, mosquitoes and the environment, and offers a once-off, long-term and self-sustaining solution to control the spread and impacts of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever.

[1] Source: Adi Utarini et al “Efficacy of Wolbachia-Infected Mosquito Deployments for the Control of Dengue” The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 384, No 23, June 2021 (link)

About Debug

Debug is an Alphabet project that has developed proprietary technology to automate the rearing, sorting, and release of millions of non-biting, non-GMO, sterile male mosquitoes at scale for Wolbachia suppression programs. The end-to-end technology includes automated rearing robots, AI powered visual sex sorting systems, and data surveillance and release platforms to optimize efficiency and performance. Debug releases mosquitoes into targeted areas identified using ongoing surveillance.

Contact Information

World Mosquito Program

Alex Jackson

Global Editorial & Media Relations Manager

alex.jackson@worldmosquito.org

Debug

Press and Media Relations

press@debug.com

Author: Yanni Yoong (Sr Program Mgr), Evdoxia Kakani, PhD (Staff Scientist), Monica Tsai (BD)

Following positive results from release of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti in Singapore, we are happy to announce that Debug is supporting the expansion of Project Wolbachia in Singapore to cover 5 new residential sites to increase Project Wolbachia’s coverage from 350,000 households in 2023 to 480,000 households by Q1 2024 - an increase from 26% to 35% of households in Singapore.

Results from NEA’s Project Wolbachia – Singapore

Aedes aegypti mosquito populations in the existing study sites of Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang, Tampines (releases done by Debug by Verily since 2018), and Yishun have generally fallen by more than 90 per cent. Data from 2019 to 2022 indicates that residents living in areas with at least one year of releases were up to 77 per cent less likely to be infected with dengue.

Results from Debug’s release areas. 

The heatmaps in Tampines and Marine Parade below show the “eraser effect” where releases of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes has decreased the dengue risk over time.

Source: NEA website

The increased capacity for Project Wolbachia from 7 million in 2023 to 11 million male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes produced and released weekly is made possible by Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) and its collaboration with Debug.  By the end of Q1 2024, Debug will be producing and releasing more than 6 million male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes per week for Project Wolbachia in Singapore .

Debug has been using its proprietary automation technology for the production, sex-sorting, and release of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes at the Tampines and Marine Parade study sites since 2023, following a collaborative research from 2018 to 2023.  

Verily's Program Manager Yanni Yoong explaining to Senior Minister of State for National Development and Foreign Affairs Sim Ann and pre-school children how male male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes are released via hand containers at the expansion of Project Wolbachia in Clementi residential estate.

Male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes are released using Debug’s vans to efficiently cover larger areas and evenly disperse mosquitoes among the blocks.

¹Around 4 million male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes for the expansion sites and around 2 million for the existing sites (Tampines and Marine Parade) are produced and released weekly.

Author: Jo Ohm, Scientist 

We are excited to announce that the Verily Debug team is starting a collaboration with the BugOut program on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. BugOut is a community-driven vector control initiative with the mission to reduce Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Territory. Aedes aegypti is invasive in the BVI and is both a vector of dengue, Zika and chikunguyna diseases, and a significant nuisance pest. The BugOut program is managed by Green VI, a BVI-based non-profit that works on environmental programs including waste management and environmental education.

BugOut’s aim to reduce Aedes aegypti mosquitoes ties in with Green VI’s other environment-focused initiatives, and piggybacks off the waste management effort to clean up neglected containers and piled trash that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Through targeted education, data-driven field work, and a consistent community presence, Green VI’s BugOut has successfully reduced mosquito breeding sites by 50% over the past 5 years. Debug is partnering with BugOut to launch the next phase of their program to further reduce Aedes aegypti mosquitoes using a Wolbachia-based incompatible insect technique (IIT). We are excited to be on board and looking forward to working on a unique and synergistic approach to mosquito control.

The Debug-BugOut partnership is launching as BugOut Wolbachia and combines Debug’s expertise in Wolbachia-male releases with BugOut’s ongoing efforts to rid the community of larval breeding sites. We will use our combined sets of tools to suppress Aedes aegypti on BVI in a way that follows Green VI’s environmentally-conscious and community-driven mission.

We will spend the next several months supporting Green VI’s BugOut team and their community representatives as they evaluate how to integrate a Wolbachia-male Aedes aegypti release program into their toolkit. Our BugOut Wolbachia collaboration started collecting data on the existing mosquito population on Virgin Gorda in February 2022. We have begun engaging with the community to share knowledge of how Wolbachia works and how it can be used to reduce mosquitoes and hopefully mosquito-borne disease in the BVI. We have also been working with the community on preliminary studies of released Wolbachia male mosquitoes to evaluate their ability to survive and disperse in the field. Virgin Gorda will be the first island in the BVI to pilot the BugOut Wolbachia program as we learn and adapt our methods to match the unique needs of the local community and mosquito population before potentially scaling to other parts of the Territory.

On September 15, the Debug team welcomed Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to our operations in Singapore, as part of his tour of the National Environment Agency (NEA) - Environmental Health Institute (EHI) Mosquito Production Facility. In addition to ongoing threats from Covid-19, dengue remains a top priority in Singapore, and his tour highlighted the importance of developing novel tools such as Project Wolbachia – Singapore to prevent the spread of dengue.

Prime Minister Lee saw first hand some of the tools that have enabled the success of Project Wolbachia – Singapore, in which Verily has partnered with the NEA-EHI since 2018. As part of the program, Verily has released male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in parts of Tampines town and has achieved a greater than 90% reduction in mosquito population, resulting in 65-80% reduction in dengue cases.

We were honored to demonstrate our technology to Prime Minister Lee and Mrs. Lee, who joined him on the tour. Together they visited our Sex Sorting Room, currently housed within the NEA-EHI Mosquito Production Facility and took a deep dive into understanding our mosquito sex-sorting technology, which has been successfully used in Debug Fresno and Debug Innisfail to separate male and female mosquitoes using a computer vision algorithm and artificial intelligence.

We are excited to continue to deploy our engineering and scientific capabilities to support NEA-EHI in scaling up production, sex sorting and release of male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes over the years to come.

Yanni Yoong, Program Manager, Debug; Hyegi Chung, Country Lead, Verily

Today, we are excited to announce that Debug will be participating in Communities Organized for the Prevention of Arbovirus (COPA) based in Ponce, Puerto Rico. COPA is a community-based project to prevent diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. A central component of the project is a large epidemiological randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate methods for suppressing mosquito populations and whether they can reduce the incidence of human arboviral infection. Debug was selected by the COPA steering committee to implement a Wolbachia-based sterile insect technique (SIT) for this trial to evaluate the extent to which SIT can reduce Aedes aegypti in Ponce release neighborhoods and reduce diseases like dengue and Zika, when coupled with community education.



This project is in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Vector Control Unit (PRVCU), who will be running the release program in Ponce using Debug technology and WB1 Wolbachia mosquitoes (through our partnership with MosquitoMate), Ponce Health Sciences University, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who will be independently collecting epidemiological data from residents in both the release and control neighborhoods.





Our ability to contribute to this important evaluation is based on several successful Debug field trials, which demonstrated a considerable reduction in the Ae. aegypti mosquito populations in areas of California, Singapore and Australia. Like our other field releases, Debug technology will be used to rear and release male Ae. aegypti mosquitoes with Wolbachia - a naturally occurring bacterium. When our male mosquitoes mate with local female Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, their eggs do not hatch, reducing the population over time. Our participation in COPA represents Debug’s first opportunity to directly assess, through an RCT, the impact of our approach on human disease outcomes, with the hope of reducing the incidence of diseases spread by Ae. aegypti. Puerto Rico has endured a number of large arboviral outbreaks in recent years, including major dengue epidemics in 2010, 2012-2013, chikungunya in 2014, and a large Zika outbreak in 2016.






For COPA, we are very fortunate to build on multiple years of work from PRVCU and the CDC whose efforts with community outreach, mosquito surveillance, trial design, and serological testing form the strong foundation upon which this evaluation can take place. Our partnership has commenced releases for the COPA RCT, which consists of 12 neighborhood zones where mosquito and serological surveillance has been performed. Clusters within these 12 zones have been randomly selected to receive Debug’s Wolbachia-based SIT and the remaining areas will act as controls.





This is an important next step for Debug, as we deploy our technique for the first time in this region where diseases spread by Ae. aegypti pose a consistent threat to human health and wellness. We are thrilled to partner with local and national experts in this program as we work together to hopefully see a significant, positive impact on the health of people in Ponce.



Sara N Mitchell, PhD, Senior Scientist, Verily

Today, our scientific paper reporting near-elimination of Aedes aegypti from three neighborhoods in Fresno County, California was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. While we previously summarized the impressive topline results of our Debug Fresno program, the peer-reviewed paper provides extensive new details regarding our field study design, mosquito rearing and release technology, trapping data, and analysis methods. The general public, mosquito control community, governmental stakeholders, and regulators alike can now independently review our methods and results.



Debug-built sex sorters achieve unprecedented accuracy by classifying individual males and females using industrial vision and machine learning algorithms.



Of particular interest, the manuscript reveals formerly undisclosed features and performance metrics of our automated mosquito production and release tools. In the paper, we describe how we reared mosquito larvae in disposable, thermoformed plastic containers, resulting in unprecedented consistency in male mosquito production. We also provide a step-by-step breakdown of our automated sex separation process including calculations of accuracy at each step. For the end-to-end process, we achieved a remarkable level of accuracy that is orders of magnitude better than manual sex separation methods. On the release side, we provide visualizations of how custom software guides male mosquito releases from our vans and allows us to detect and target those areas where releasing additional male mosquitoes would further improve program effectiveness. In addition to these metrics and descriptions, we are releasing all of the field data we collected during the course of the study to allow for analytical replication.

Debug Fresno was an incredibly rewarding partnership among ourselves, the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District, MosquitoMate, and the residents of Fresno County. As our first field trial, it taught us many lessons about how to successfully run a sterile insect technique (SIT) program. Publication of the results from this field study marks a critical point in the evolution of the Debug project. We now have clear, peer-reviewed evidence that Debug technology can be used to massively suppress the number of biting female Aedes aegypti by automating both mass-rearing and release of sterile male mosquitoes. More than 2 billion people are at risk of contracting Aedes-borne viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, and the global distribution of Aedes aegypti continues to expand worldwide. Our results give hope that we—in collaboration with forward-thinking partners—can turn the tide in this ongoing global health challenge. We have already incorporated what we learned from this trial into our other programs around the world, including our work with The National Environment Agency (NEA) in Singapore, and look forward to expanding to additional communities that routinely suffer from outbreaks of Aedes-transmitted diseases.





Jacob Crawford, PhD, Sr. Scientist, Verily and Brad White, PhD, Debug Lead Scientist, Verily

“A few years ago I could not even walk to my mailbox without getting several bites on my legs…This year I have only received one bite all summer… Thank you from a happy Clovis resident.” -B.B., Oct 17, 2019

Debug Fresno, the largest U.S. release of male mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, launched in 2017. Using an approach known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), Debug Fresno released male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, made effectively sterile by carrying Wolbachia, over 222 acres of residential neighborhoods in 2017. Our aim was to suppress the wild population of Aedes aegypti, which is invasive to California and has the potential to spread diseases, such as Zika and dengue. We continued the study during Fresno County’s 2018 and 2019 mosquito seasons, increasing our area almost 8-fold and adjusting our technologies to be even more efficient and effective. This past October we completed our final year of Debug Fresno with three seasons of strong suppression while gaining invaluable experience for scaling mosquito SIT around the globe.





Nearly half of all humans are at risk of contracting diseases transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti, and in 2019, many regions around the globe experienced a dramatic increase in dengue—reaching epidemic levels in some cases. Traditional approaches to controlling Aedes aegypti have not been sufficient to halt its spread. Mosquito SIT has the potential to dramatically reduce the incidence of disease spread by Aedes aegypti, while precisely targeting just this one species of mosquito.

Researchers have been developing mosquito-targeted SIT protocols and technology for more than a half century. However, most efforts have been limited by their inability to consistently produce healthy male mosquitoes on an industrial scale and efficiently remove biting female mosquitoes prior to release. In 2015, Debug by Verily began to develop technology to address these issues, including a highly controlled mosquito rearing system and precise sex-sorting systems. Field testing under realistic conditions is a critical step in the development of any new technology, so we were fortunate to form our partnership with the Consolidated Mosquito Abatement District (CMAD) and MosquitoMate, who were already studying this approach in the Fresno County area. Together, we made Debug Fresno a reality.

The Debug Fresno program design was fairly simple. With our partners, we chose several neighborhoods in the Fresno/Clovis metropolitan area where invasive Aedes aegypti had become widely established. We reared and released sterile, male Aedes aegypti, which cannot bite, into some of these areas to mate with local, wild female Aedes aegypti. If SIT were to work, we would see a considerable difference in the population of this mosquito between release and non-release neighborhoods. And, this is exactly what happened. At peak mosquito season, Debug Fresno observed decreases of biting, female Aedes aegypti in our release neighborhoods by up to 68% in 2017, 95% in 2018, and 84% in 2019.

While Debug Fresno may be conceptually straightforward, it was a significant operational and technical challenge. We measured impact in the field using a network of mosquito traps deployed at more than 2,000 locations by our partners at CMAD over the three years, who checked these traps 54,648 times, counted 1,569,589 Aedes aegypti, and in the process provided unparalleled insight into wild mosquito population dynamics. In South San Francisco, the Debug lab continued to grow and optimize. We reared a tremendous number of mosquitoes, converting approximately 1,100 pounds of larval diet into adult mosquitoes, while constantly improving the efficiency of our larval rearing and sex sorting technology. In total, we released approximately 48 million sterile male mosquitoes over 431 days spanning 3 seasons in Fresno/Clovis—repeatedly adjusting our release numbers and schedule—to evaluate release strategies and learn how to achieve the strongest suppression.





Each year, our collaboration learned something new that helped our approach evolve. This year, our goal was to maintain strong rates of suppression in our 2018 areas, while continuing to expand into new neighborhoods. This year also turned out to be a record year for Aedes aegypti in California with a significantly earlier increase in density in Fresno County and detection in new cities. Even under these conditions, we maintained strong suppression in our 2018 release areas until late July when migration from untreated areas increased substantially. After adjusting and focusing our release strategies to accommodate the increased 2019 mosquito population, we achieved up to 84% suppression of biting, female Aedes aegypti. Results were stronger in some areas than others, which provided valuable data on minimum effective release rates under a range of scenarios. Our 2019 results also reinforced our perspective that starting as early in the season as possible, when mosquito populations are at their lowest, is the best strategy for achieving the maximum suppression with the lowest number of mosquitoes released.

As Verily’s first, and longest, field study has drawn to a close, we must take the time to express gratitude to our Debug Fresno partners, MosquitoMate and CMAD, and in particular to the technicians at CMAD whose hands-on work was critical to our success. We are also endlessly grateful to the residents of Fresno County for welcoming us and engaging in this study. Globally, interest in Wolbachia-based SIT is growing as scientists and governments look for effective and targeted ways to suppress the Aedes aegypti mosquito and reduce the diseases they spread. The experience and technological gains resulting from Debug Fresno have already been transferred to programs in other locations where this mosquito is both a nuisance and the cause of substantial disease burden. Debug’s progress on fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito around the world continues, and we look forward to what is to come in 2020 and beyond.





Jacob Crawford, PhD, Senior Scientist, Verily and David Clarke, PhD, Factory Operations Manager, Verily