Epidemiological and Entomological Efficacy of Wolbachia Technologies

Date:

Fri, 15 Dec 2023

Time:

2 pm-3 pm [Singapore [GMT +8]]

Location:

Seminar Room 2, Level 8
Tahir Foundation Building (MD1)
National University of Singapore
12 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117549

Details:

You are cordially invited to the ON-SITE Public Health Grand Round. We look forward to your attendance and we hope for an interesting discussion.

Light refreshments will be provided at 1.30pm, do drop by to hang out for a bit before the session starts.
We will also be having a Lucky Draw at the end of the session, register yourself and stand a chance to win a special prize!
*Only Attendees will be included in the Lucky draw*

Abstract:

Wolbachia is a promising new strategy for vector control, where matings between male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with wAlbB strain of Wolbachia and wildtype females yield non-viable eggs. Singapore has conducted large scale field trials involving release of wAlbB-infected Ae. aegypti male mosquitoes for dengue control via vector population suppression since 2018, covering more than 600,000 residents.

Here, I will outline (1) challenges related to evaluating interventions in non-randomized, large-scale field-trial settings, (2) the development of synthetic control methods, and (3) a target-trial emulation of a cluster-randomized test-negative design to triangulate intervention efficacies. Using said methodologies, we demonstrate that Wolbachia interventions were associated to consistent and dramatic reductions in vector populations and dengue incidence across the evaluated study period (2018 – 2022) and across all field trial sites. Our results demonstrated the potential of Wolbachia-mediated IIT for strengthening dengue control in tropical cities, where dengue burden is the greatest.

Speakers:

Dr Lim Jue Tao
Assistant Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University

Dr Lim Jue Tao is an Assistant Professor in the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics, as well as a Masters in Statistics. He obtained his PhD in Public Health from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in 2021, where his work was focused on modelling the transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases.

Prior to joining LKCMedicine, he was Head of Informatics at the Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore. He has led the Informatics group which focused on translating and adapting tools from statistics, econometrics and computational epidemiology to conduct inference on the transmission dynamics of pathogens, such as dengue and SARS-CoV-2.

Asst Prof Lim is a biostatistician and infectious disease modeller with a long-standing and deep interest in developing new models for infectious disease forecasting, transmission and control. He uses these tools to advise and design disease control implementation and policy, and has contributed to more than 40 publications in journals such as Lancet Infectious Diseases and Lancet Western Pacific and is involved in multiple local and international collaborations.
[CME, CPE, and CDE points