Publication: Daily Nation
Page and Section: 3
Date: Tue, January 22, 2002
Byline: Terry Ally
A MOSQUITO hunt of a different kind is under way in Barbados. The little nuisance insects are wanted alive and kicking.
That is because researchers want to know what type of mosquitoes are to be found in Barbados. Such information would also reveal the potential for spread of diseases, since there are new diseases such as the West Nile virus that can be spread by a species of the Culex family of mosquito which was recorded in the 1960s. Health authorities say no one knows for sure if it is still here or if others have arrived.
“This survey is part of the Six Men’s Community Public Health Project and is being executed by the Pan American Health Organisation,” project co-ordinator Curtis Thompson of the Maurice Byer Polyclinic told the Daily Nation during a community clean-up yesterday.
“We are setting up 4 000 traps, and this will require a lot of manpower to constantly collect and take the slides to the lab,” Thompson said, noting the traps would be set up in and around Six Men’s.
The ones on the periphery will be “lethal” traps which will contain a trace of insecticide. The idea is to find out the mosquitoes’ resistance. Researchers will also determine their level of infestation.
Thompson also said there had been a change in their breeding patterns. He also said that because of the fight against the dengue fever-bearing Aedes aegypti mosquito, which lived predominantly in the home, the insect had now moved to unsuspecting places like septic tanks, wells, and water bodies within gullies. The Six Men’s project was conceptualised because of the high level of rodent and mosquito breeding found in and around the community. The focus is to educate the residents on the public health issues and dangers, and empower them to take charge of their environment.