Westmoreland Residents Lauded for Destroying Mosquito Breeding Sites to Curtail Dengue Transmission

The Westmoreland Health Department is commending residents of the parish for ridding their premises of potential mosquito breeding sites, to curtail the spread of the dengue virus.

Health Education and Promotions Officer for Westmoreland, Gerald Miller, told JIS News that the Department has been on a mission to ensure every household across the parish takes the search and destroy activities seriously, adding that they are pleased with how the message is being well received.

He underscored that persons in the parish have been adhering to the ‘4S’ principles of dengue prevention. These are to search and destroy mosquito breeding sites, seek early consultation from health experts, secure self-protection, and support vector-control efforts.

“We have been seeing some evidence of that in quite a few communities… we are seeing that happening. Persons have been taking steps to ensure that their premises do not have anything that can pose a threat to their health by facilitating the breeding of mosquitos. So, we want to laud our residents for that,” Mr. Miller stated.

The Health Promotion Officer said citizens have also been seeking medical attention as soon as the dengue symptoms become evident.

He advised that persons have additionally been taking the necessary steps to prevent the creation of mosquito sites and are supporting the Health Department’s vector-control efforts.

Mr. Miller encourages residents not to be complacent but to remain vigilant in their dengue-prevention activities.

“We would have made gains in terms of curtailing the spread of dengue. But we are not out of the woods. There are still persons who are having dengue-like symptoms, and we want persons to not get too comfortable and say ‘oh, we are not hearing much about dengue, so things are OK now’. No, we want persons to continue to adhere to the four S’s of dengue prevention,” he implored.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for transmitting Dengue Fever, as well as the Zika and chikungunya viruses.