When cases of dengue are registered in a building, a trio of children discover that it is necessary to eliminate the outbreaks of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits dengue, Zika and Chikungunya.  

To find places where the insect can reproduce and discover the best strategies to combat the vector, the characters Alex, Camila and Gigi count on the help of science, but they need to face the building manager, who, due to lack of knowledge, makes it difficult the work of heroes. 

This is the plot of the comic book ‘The defenders of the Laranjeiras building in: what mosquito is this’, which is available online for free download. 

Aimed at children and young people, the comic was created by specialists from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) and the College of Application of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (CAp-UFRGS). 

The script is by biologists Rafaela Bruno, head of the Insect Molecular Biology Laboratory at IOC, and Renata Maia, researcher at the same Laboratory, and chemist Victor João da Rocha Maia Santos, professor at CAp-UFRGS. The illustrations are by comic artist Pedro Ponzo. The review of the material included the collaboration of journalist Vinicius Ferreira, from the Department of Journalism and Communication at the IOC.

With an adventure plot, the story addresses the biology of Aedes, including the mosquito's life cycle, habits and morphological aspects, and teaches how to identify breeding grounds for the insect and how to eliminate them. 

Click here to access the publication. Check it out and share.