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Authorities Stress Seriousness of Dengue Threat
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Authorities Stress Seriousness of Dengue Threat
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Contact:
Primus Hutchinson Friday,
October 26, 2001 – Battling a rising number of dengue fever cases,
health authorities are appealing to Saint Lucians to start taking this
potentially deadly public health threat more seriously by getting involved in
waging a relentless war against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. This insect, which breeds
anywhere stagnant water is found, including inside and around the home, is the
vector responsible for transmitting the virus which causes dengue to humans.
Eliminating breeding places is a most effective way of controlling the Aedes
Aegypti mosquito. Health
authorities said they were concerned that Saint Lucians appeared not be heeding
the message that dengue is potentially deadly, and seemed to be casually
treating it as a type of fever which comes and soon goes away. The serious type
3 dengue is on the island. Vector Control Coordinator
with the Ministry of Health, Emmanuel Bobb said the Ministry was playing its
part by using fogging to control the adult Aedes Aegypti mosquito and using
larvaeciding to eliminate the young ones. However,
Senior Medical Officer, Dr. Keith Deligny, pointed out that these efforts will
not be fully effective unless Saint Lucians lend their support by eliminating
breeding places for the mosquito. “Everybody
thinks that the Ministry ought to be fogging (but) there are problems with
fogging,” Dr. Deligny explained. “First of all, it’s very expensive and
secondly when we fog, we do not only destroy the mosquito, we destroy other
insects so we are actually interfering with our eco-system and also the predator
of the Pink Mealy Bug is destroyed by the fogging also.
The other problem with fogging is the more you keep fogging, the mosquito
develops a resistance to this.” |
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