In "", released on September 1, 2015, the "Wolbachia" bacteria is used to halt the reproduction of the fictional "vocal chords parasite". At the time, large-scale uses of "Wolbachia" to control insect-transmitted diseases like malaria and dengue only existed in simulated computational models and field-test releases in Australia. Deployment of "Wolbachia" was proposed the next year at the peak of the Zika epidemic in the Americas. Large-scale deployments of the "Wolbachia" bacteria became the most effective way to control and eradicate mosquito-related epidemics as of 2019, with successful deployments in Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Brazil.