strain AlbB maintains high density and dengue inhibition following introduction into a field population of .

mosquitoes carrying the AlbB strain show a reduced capacity to transmit dengue virus. AlbB has been introduced into wild populations in several field sites in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where it has persisted at high frequency for more than 2 years and significantly reduced dengue incidence. Although these encouraging results indicate that AlbB releases can be an effective dengue control strategy, the long-term success depends on AlbB maintaining high population frequencies and virus transmission inhibition, and both could be compromised by host coevolution in the field. Here, AlbB-carrying collected from the field 20 months after the cessation of releases showed no reduction in density or tissue distribution changes compared to a AlbB laboratory colony. The AlbB strain continued to induce complete unidirectional cytoplasmic incompatibility, showed perfect maternal transmission under laboratory conditions, and retained its capacity to inhibit dengue. Additionally, a field-collected AlbB line was challenged with Malaysian dengue patient blood, and showed significant blocking of virus dissemination to the salivary glands. These results indicate that AlbB continues to inhibit currently circulating strains of dengue in field populations of , and provides additional support for the continued scale-up of wAlbB releases for dengue control. This article is part of the theme issue 'Novel control strategies for mosquito-borne diseases'.