Mosquito Control Drive in St. Ann

The St. Ann Health Department will be embarking on a vector control drive to contain the increase in the mosquito population in the parish as a result of Hurricane Ivan.
In an interview with JIS News, Public Health Inspector in charge of Vector Control in St. Ann, Mark Miller, informed that vector control teams would be dispatched throughout the parish over the next two weeks to conduct mosquito control work, which will include larvaecidal work, biological control and thermal fogging.
He explained that the larvaecidal work involved the destruction of mosquito larvae in areas where water had settled, biological control involved the use of special species of fish that feed on the mosquito larvae, while the fogging process would target the adult mosquitoes.
Thermal fogging will take place between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. daily and areas to benefit include St. Ann’s Bay, Seville Heights, Lime Hall, Mt. Edgecombe, Borobridge, Runaway Bay, Moneague and Parry Town.
Mr. Miller said that the department would also embark on a public education campaign, with the assistance of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), to educate persons on how to prevent mosquito infestation.
He is also encouraging members of the public to carry out their own mosquito control programmes in their communities and their homes. He said that this could be done by properly disposing garbage, ensuring that containers were free of waste water, creating compost heaps from kitchen waste, clearing blocked drains and keeping the general surroundings clean.