Westmoreland Health Department Tackling Spike In The Parish’s Mosquito Population

The Westmoreland Health Department is taking steps to decrease the mosquito population across the parish, which has spiked since the recent passage of Hurricane Beryl.

Chief Public Health Inspector for Westmoreland, Steve Morris, says the Department has received numerous complaints from across the parish, adding that “we are trying our best to respond”.

“Members of the vector-control team have been out morning and evening, trying to respond to the needs of the residents,” he indicated.

Mr. Morris said while Westmoreland does not currently have any positive dengue cases, the notification numbers have increased in comparison to the corresponding period in 2023.

Consequently, he encourages citizens to take personal responsibility for their immediate surroundings by destroying mosquito breeding sites.

“We have been consistently reminding residents that they have a part to play in the response to the mosquito infestation that we are currently seeing. Residents are encouraged to conduct search and destroy activities around their premises at least once per week, to see how we can reduce the population,” Mr. Morris stated.

He added that, unfortunately, residents do not seem receptive to this message, “so this is why we are left in this position to respond as best we can, as a team, to knock down adult [mosquitos]”.

Mr. Morris informed that the Aedes index as at June 30 was 6.5 per cent, noting that the Public Health Department is hoping to keep it below 10 per cent.

The index refers to the percentage of premises or homes in a limited, well-defined space, where actual breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found and the total number of houses examined in that area.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) standard is really five per cent, but we know the situation. A lot of communities are without water supply, and so they have to store water, and that has led to the number of the index going up,” he pointed out.

Mr. Morris added that the Health Department has been distributing water drum covers to residents to ensure that the containers are kept covered after usage.

Meanwhile, the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation handed over a new mosquito fogging machine, valued more than $385,000, to the Health Department.