On Friday, two privately-owned businesses revealed a collaboration to distribute mosquitoes throughout the Caribbean that have been bred with a specific bacterium that inhibits the dengue virus. This measure comes as the region struggles with a high number of dengue cases.

Orbit Services Partners Inc., a Barbados-based corporation, is collaborating with Verily, a health technology company headquartered in San Francisco, for the project. According to Orbit’s chairman, Anthony Da Silva, the companies have been in discussions with government representatives in the area with the goal of launching the project in the beginning of next year.

This would focus on countries such as Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Suriname, Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Other initiatives have successfully utilized the Wolbachia bacterium to combat dengue virus. This involves infecting mosquitoes in a controlled setting before releasing them into their natural habitat, where they can transmit it to their offspring. The bacterium effectively hinders the replication of the dengue virus within the mosquito’s digestive system.

According to Da Silva, the collaboration has been in progress for three years but was hindered by the pandemic. The suggestion is currently awaiting approval from each Caribbean country.

The total number of dengue cases in the Caribbean and Americas has exceeded 4 million this year, the largest amount since record-keeping started in 1980.