Vector-Control Teams Dispatched to High-Risk Areas

As part of efforts to rid communities of mosquito breeding sites, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has dispatched its vector-control teams to several high-risk areas across the island.

Medical Entomologist and National Programme Manager for Vector Control in the Ministry, Sherine Huntley Jones, told JIS News that the teams are tasked with identifying and eliminating the breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the dengue virus, and carrying out sensitisation.

She reported that the Ministry is increasing the number of temporary vector-control workers to 1,200, up from the 500 that have been deployed across the island since June.

“We have intensified our fogging now to seven days per week. We are doing fogging morning and evening and we have intensified our larvicidal activities,” Mrs. Huntley Jones said in an interview with JIS News.

She stressed the importance of householders providing access to their premises to carry out fogging and to identify and destroy breeding sites.

“It is important that we do this fogging to [get rid] of the adult mosquitoes that are infected and are able to bite a susceptible individual and pass on the virus. It is very necessary and it outweighs the discomfort that persons may feel with the fogging,” she stated.

The public is advised that the Aedes aegypti mosquito breeds in any containerised environment, that is in anything that can hold water.

Some of the common breeding sites for the mosquito are drums, tyres, buckets, and animal feeding containers.

Persons are urged to play their part in containing mosquito breeding by keeping their surroundings free of debris and destroying or treating potential mosquito breeding sites.

They can also protect themselves against contracting dengue by wearing protective clothing, using a DEET-containing mosquito repellant and, as much as possible, staying indoors at dusk with windows and doors closed.