25 August 2011
Nature publishes program's Australian results
Leading scientific journal Nature published two papers that describe the results from a series of experiments undertaken by the Eliminate Dengue program. The first paper describes experiments in the lab and contained cage trials. The second paper describes the open field-testing of the program’s proposed control method, carried out in far north Queensland, Australia.
Read Media Announcement [PDF]. Read Nature News and Views [PDF].
14 February 2011
Visit to Cairns field site by Vietnamese collaborators
In addition to developing the Wolbachia method in Australia the project is also working with local scientists and field sites in Vietnam where we hope to also test this alternative strategy to eliminate dengue.
Assoc. Prof. Vu Sinh Nam is a designated Head of Planning in the Ministry of Health in Vietnam and is responsible for the Eliminate Dengue field team development and coordination including interactions between communities, government agencies and scientists.
Dr Nam travelled to Cairns in February, with members of his team from Hanoi and the proposed field trial site near Nha Trang, to follow the progress of the Cairns field trial and to study how the trial may be implemented in Vietnam.
4 January 2011
First field trials commence in far north Queensland, Australia
The Cairns based Eliminate Dengue field team commenced a 12-week field trial in the Cairns suburbs of Yorkeys Knob and Gordonvale.
Read Media Announcement [PDF]
4 January 2011
Queensland Government announces funding for Eliminate Dengue project
The Queensland Government announced it is contributing AU$1.95 million to the Eliminate Dengue project through a Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) grant. The project is part of the National and International Research Alliances Program (NIRAP) program under the Smart Futures Funds.
Read Media Announcement [PDF]
24 November 2010
Eliminate Dengue Cairns office opened and new team welcomed
In preparation for world-first field trials to eliminate dengue fever, project leader Professor Scott O’Neill welcomed the newly recruited Cairns field implementation team at an opening of the international project’s first official office.
The project office is situated at Suite 11, 36 Grafton St, Cairns, Queensland and can be contacted on (++) 61 7 4040 2500 or 1800 811 054 (freecall within Australia).
For more information see the ED Newsletter, December 2010 [link]
4-5 October 2010
Eliminate Dengue Community Meetings in Gordonvale and Yorkeys Knob
Come and meet Scott O’Neill and put your questions to the team. Please see the link for details of these public events.
28-29 January 2010
CSIRO 2nd Risk Assessment Workshop
A second workshop took place to further refine the risk assessment model which was developed after the first workshop. It also provided some updates on research information for discussion and solicitation of further expert opinions on the probability of different hazards and their consequences. Reviews from the Independent Advisory Panel were also discussed. This was an invaluable exercise for CSIRO and a comprehensive public report detailing any risks and hazards relating to a future field release will be finalized in the coming month. At this stage, all risks and hazards had been previously identified and the team has been working towards reducing and eliminating as required.
21-22 December 2009
Cairns Modelling Workshop
Cairns, Australia was the location of the ‘Mathematics Modelling Workshop for the Eliminate Dengue Project’ on 21-22 December 2009. The meeting focused on a number of important issues including:
The preferred design of open field testing experiments
Design of future contained cage experiments
Development of simulation modeling approaches to support the project.
28 July 2009
Ethical Social Cultural Grant, Vietnam - Successful workshop in Hanoi
The first introduction workshop was held in Hanoi on Tuesday 28 July to educate senior Ministry of Health officials on the concepts and future planning of the Wolbachia project. The workshop also gave participants an opportunity to ask questions on what type of activities would contribute to mitigating any potential risks with a field release. The community engagement component has begun with the creation of a community engagement strategy and a community profile of the potential release site. A workshop will be conducted in Nha Trang this month to introduce the project to stakeholders located at or near the field site, as well as beginning community engagement through surveys and focus group discussions.
3 June 2009
Opening of Mosquito Research Facility, Cairns, Queensland
Our international team of collaborators, aiming to eliminate dengue fever worldwide, has now taken a major step forward with the construction of a start of the art, outdoor, Mosquito Research Facility (MRF) at James Cook University (JCU), Cairns campus. The MRF was officially opened by Her Excellency Ms Penelope Wensley AO, Governor of Queensland on 3rd June 2009.
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, through the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, together with JCU invested $2M AUD into this new facility. Experiments will be conducted at JCU over the next 18 months to test the use of Wolbachia bacteria to control the spread of dengue.
The facility comprises a high-level containment laboratory and two fully enclosed, outdoor 'green-house' style laboratories which have been designed and built to replicate the preferred Australian breeding ground of the mosquito.
The dengue research and the Mosquito Research Facility at JCU are overseen by Dr Scott Ritchie, who has been working extensively with other Queensland Health experts in monitoring and controlling dengue outbreaks in far north Queensland, for more than a decade.
18-22 May 2009
4th Annual Progress Meeting
Port Douglas, Far North Queensland was the venue for the project's 4th Annual Progress Meeting, giving participants the opportunity to visit the project's new Mosquito Research Facility at James Cook University, Cairns.
The meeting was a huge success and we thank everyone who attended for their interaction and contribution towards shaping our priorities for the next 18 months.
10 January 2009
Official launch of GCGH field cage in Nha Trang, central Vietnam
A purpose built GCGH field cage for studying the survivorship of Aedes aegypti under field conditions in Vietnam was officially launched during a field visit by GCGH project partners.
The field cage was specifically designed to recreate the peri-domestic environment in which Aedes aegypti mosquitoes live, and includes a two bedroom house typical of those in central Vietnam, and also water storage jars which are key breeding sites for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Current experiments aim to validate age grading methodologies on local strains of Aedes aegypti, and then use these tools to define mosquito longevity under field conditions.
22-28 March 2008
3rd Annual Progress Meeting
The project's 3rd Annual Progress Meeting was held at Hanoi and Cat Ba Island in northern Vietnam (March 22-28, 2008), and participants combined this with a field visit to the project's field sites in Nha Trang in central Vietnam as well as NIHE (National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology) in Hanoi. There was plenty of discussion on the evaluation of progress, the logistics for the implementation of the next phase and restructuring and maximizing our efforts to achieve the goals of the project.
Several invited delegates attended the meeting and we would like to thank them for their contributions; Trinh Quan Huan (Vice Minister of Health, Government of Vietnam), Nguyen Huy Nga (Director General Vietnam Administration of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, Government of Vietnam), Nguyen Tran Hien (Director, NIHE, Ministry of Health, Government of Vietnam), Stephanie James and Michael Gottlieb (both from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health).
19 January 2007
2nd Annual Progress Meeting
The project’s 2nd annual progress meeting was held on Heron Island, Queensland, Australia (February 11-16, 2007). Several research groups demonstrated considerable progress on their outlined milestones.
Several invited delegates attended the meeting and we would like to thank them for their contributions; Stephanie James (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health), Michael Gottlieb (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health), James Lavery, (University of Toronto), Steven Sinkins (Oxford University) and David Brown (University of California).
4 March 2006
1st Annual Progress Meeting
The first annual progress meeting was held in Pattaya, Chachoengsao, Thailand (March 4-10, 2006). The meeting commenced with project updates from each research group, followed by discussion on workplan revisions.
The meeting involved a day trip to the nearby field site in Plaeng Yao sub-district. Prof. John Edman (UC Davis) attended the meeting as a contributing expert and his contributions were much appreciated.