Jakartans use “fogger” chemical sprays to fight dengue-transmitting Aedes mosquitoes.
Photo © Hermitianta P. Putra
Whatever was meant to target the mosquitoes made cockroaches jumped into our swimming pool and drown themselves, and made “normal” ants frantically run in circles. This suggests that whatever they use for fogging is a generalist poison that screws up all insect brains and likely affects larger things as well. That is bad for controlling dengue, because many small animals compete with the mosquitos for food and reproductive space, or may even eat them (eg: larvae from other insects, or chick-chacks).
Probably for these reasons, fogging for dengue is not advised:
- The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Indonesia Newsletter (2008) states “Fogging has been proven over 50 years of use to have no practical effect on dengue transmission”
- A study in the Singapore Medical Journal (2005) concluded that “usual chemical fogging in natural environment was ineffective in breaking the reproductive lifecycle by eliminating gravid female Aedes mosquitoes“
- The Philippino government’s Department of Health advises against fogging. [here] and [here].
So please stop fogging!
The best approach is to eliminate all possible breeding sites: getting rid of even small amounts of stagnant water (in containers, trash, leaves, flower pot dishes….)
Aedes aegypti © Wikipedia
I think the best way is to educate people on the Health and Safety issue. The teaching has to begin from schools at a young age. More information to be distributed on the cleanliness and methods of disposing unwanted containers, dangers of stagnant waters, the common breeding grounds in homes,etc.
People need to take the concept of cleanliness seriously. Fine people for not following the procedure.
We need to help our community and keep our environment clean.
John Umasanthiram
Thanks for the comment, John. I wholeheartedly agree.
from where the people found this kind of mosquito?
Hello Hameed,
Wikipedia has some good information about the dengue mosquito’s lifestyle. It is now found in most warm parts of the world. And it prefers laying eggs in stagnant water that may accumulate in pots, buckets, tires or trash, as well as in stagnant fountains, rarely used toilets or showers..). The best manner of keeping the dengue mosquito away is by eliminating such places that are essential for its reproduction.