As Indonesia planned to release mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacteria, which helps to prevent the spread of viruses like dengue, social media users shared false claims the insects are part of "Bill Gates' depopulation plan" because they transmit "LGBT genes" and Japanese encephalitis. An expert and health authorities have rubbished the claim, explaining the mosquitoes cause neither genetic mutations nor any illnesses in humans.

"Wolbachia: Bill Gates' biological weapon to decrease the human population," reads part of an Indonesian-language Facebook post uploaded here on November 18, 2023.

The post claims the depopulation plan, "whose masterminds are allegedly the WHO, Israel and America", is using "WOLBACHIA BIONIC Mosquitoes that will be spread in various areas in Indonesia and other countries".

Wolbachia are bacteria that block diseases like dengue, Zika and chikungunya from growing in the bodies of mosquitoes (archived link).

This has been harnessed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-supported World Mosquito Program (WMP), which partners with local communities to release Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the bacteria into the wild, helping to reduce the transmission of these diseases (archived link).

The World Mosquito Program Yogyakarta (WMPY), run by the Centre for Tropical Medicine at Gadjah Mada University, first released these mosquitoes into Indonesia in 2014, in Yogyakarta province on Java island (archived links here and here).

Similar claims...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiLWh0dHBzOi8vZmFjdGNoZWNrLmFmcC5jb20v...