Outliers: Targeting dengue fever with a different kind of bug

But enough about imaginary plagues. Researchers in Vietnam and Australia are going after a very real infectious disease—dengue fever.

They're working to infect mosquitoes with a bacteria, Wolbachia, that blocks them from getting the dengue virus.

So how can simple bacteria break this cycle? Wolbachia is commonly found in many insects, including fruit flies. But for reasons not fully understood, it is not carried naturally by certain mosquitoes, including the most common one that transmits dengue, the Aedes aegypti.

The germ has fascinated scientist Scott O'Neill his entire career. He started working with it about two decades ago at Yale University. But it wasn't until 2008, after returning to his native Australia, that he had his eureka moment.

One of his research students figured out how to implant the bacteria into a mosquito so it could be passed on to future generations. The initial hope was that it would shorten the insect's life. But soon, a hidden benefit was discovered: Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes not only died quicker but also blocked dengue partially or entirely, sort of like a natural vaccine.

Research now is centered on Tri Nguyen Island, Vietnam, where part of entomologist Nguyen Thi Yen's work is letting herself be bitten by the Wolbachia-infected bugs.

The Australians tapped 58-year-old Yen at Vietnam's National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, where she's worked for the past 35 years. Their plan is to test the Wolbachia mosquitoes on a small island off the country's central coast this year, with another release expected next year in Indonesia.

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