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No Spray News James Irwin |
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No Spray News James Irwin |
April 15, 2002 Page 6
Epidemiologist Recommends Against SprayingFuiji Mosquito Spraying Against Dengue Fever Not Effective
SUVA, Fiji (January 13,1998 - PACNEWS) --- Australian epidemiologist Tony Stewart, in Fiji to help health authorities control the dengue fever epidemic, says the current mosquito spraying campaign in the country is not effective.
Efforts by the Health Ministry and some town councils to control the dengue virus through mosquito spraying programs, he adds, may be a futile exercise, Radio Fiji reports.
Stewart, who is one of two experts in the country to assist the ministry draw up plans to counter the dengue outbreak, says mosquitoes will continue to breed despite the spraying.
Note: Fiji may be a long ways away, but the mosquito species involved in dengue fever transmission there is either our own predominant mosquito (Aedes albopictus, the tiger mosquito), or its close cousin Aedes aegypti (which was here until the tiger mosquito arrived and took over).
MY COMMENT5
First, thanks for your letters and phone calls of support.I'm sure these newsletters are way more than most of you want to know about mosquito spraying. You are probably wondering what the views of members of city and county councils are on mosquito spraying; I promise to find out for you and let you know in the next issue of NO SPRAY NEWS.
MOSQUITO SPRAYING AGENCIES HAVE YET TO RESPOND I sent copies of-the previous issue of No Spray News to Tammie Brewer of Richland County Vector control and Larry McCall of the city of Columbia's Environmental Health Department, and asked each for a response. so far, neither has provided one, although Tammie Brewer did call to ask for the sources of some of my-informa- tion.