Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 32
Paper Date: Tue, Feb 12, 2002
Byline: Terry Ally
ST LUCY has the worst mosquito problem in the
north and residents there are being rallied to deal with the problem. The
mosquito problem is 300 per cent higher in that parish than any of the other
four parishes under the jurisdiction of the Maurice Byer Polyclinic.
What makes matters worse, according to two environmental health officers from
that polyclinic, the effectiveness of malathion, used in fogging, had decreased
and household insecticides were only effective for four to five weeks.
The officers want all hands on deck and announced enforcement of the
"two-strike" rule: violate the Health Services (Mosquito) Regulations
the second time and face the law courts. One officer was trained in evidence
gathering for prosecution by the Regional Police Training Centre last year in
preparation for enforcement
this year.
"This is no longer a Ministry of Health problem, or a Denis Kellman
problem, or my problem, it is all o' we problem," Acting Senior
Environmental Health Officer of the polyclinic, Curtis Thompson, told members of
the community group Youth Uprising Sunday night.
He said that between November 12, 2001, and February 1, 2002, the house index
was 8.9, the container index 7.1 and the Breateau index was a whopping 16.7. The
first two indices are the percentage of homes and containers where the mosquito
was found breeding, while the Breateau is a combination of the two. His
colleague, acting Senior Environmental Health Officer Maurice Gaskin said that
the acceptable index is 1.0 or less because at this, there was no disease
transmission.
"For the disease to occur we need to have an agent [the virus], a host
[humans], and a vector [the mosquito] and in St Lucy all three are
present," Gaskin said.
He also said fogging was only 35 per cent effective, targeting only adult
mosquitoes but hours later more eggs hatch "and we are back to square
one". A study done three years ago showed the effectiveness of the
pesticide malathion, used in fogging, had decreased by 40 per cent. Gaskin also
said mosquitoes developed immunity to household insecticides and he advised that
a new spray with a different active ingredient should be used every month.
The key to eradication was to get rid of the places where the mosquito could
breed; and Youth Uprising will do parish-wide clean-ups within a few weeks, said
president David Boyce. Communities targeted for clean-up will be notified two
weeks in advance.