Public health authorities countrywide are working to contain an dengue outbreak that has appeared in the Cayo, Corozal and Belize districts. 118 cases have been confirmed in the past two weeks when the annual average is 20. Presently efforts are concentrated on inhibiting breeding grounds for the mosquito larvae, which will spread the disease when they reach adulthood. This afternoon, 7NEWS went toe the frontline of the war on dengue in the village of Las Flores, one of the communities outside of Belmopan that has reported a number of cases. Here's what we found.
This is the Cayo District dengue response team on the move in the village of Las Flores one of the communities around Belmopan where a number of cases of dengue have been reported.
Javier Alpuche, Sr. Public Health Inspector
"When we talk about dengue the key in controlling dengue is in controlling the mosquito that transmits dengue. There are several activities that we need to do. We do the spraying which deals with the adult mosquito but we also need to attack the mosquito at the larvae stage. How we do that? We do that by eliminating breeding sites. So the message that needs to get out there is that people must keep their yards clean, dispose of all tires, cans, and bottles that may serve as breeding sites."
And that's what they were doing today in Las Flores, as an information officer went door to door educating residents about what causes the spread of dengue and what are the symptoms. And while she worked the doors, health and environmental officers were in the yards and homes looking for trouble spots like this. Its full of what are known locally as wiggle waggles which are actually mosquito larvae. To kill the larvae in this barrel they use a substance called abate.
"Normally its one tablespoon for a container like this. We just spread it around evenly and what it does is produce like a substance at the top so that whenever the wiggle waggle would come up on top it produces a film which keeps the wiggle waggle inside. This is what we normally do. Normally when we find any kind of containers like buckets which are removable we get rid of it and put it somewhere safer so that mosquitoes can't get inside."
Another common breeding ground are disused buckets like these left around the yard. In this case the team simply emptied it, but they warn that small oversights like these contribute to the outbreak. But oversights are one thing and common practice is another.
Jules Vasquez,
A lot of people keep standing water in their yard we saw in that house just now they keep it there for washing purposes and it's a part of their everyday life. If you have a bucket you can empty that out but how should they handle these everyday water that they need?
Javier Alpuche,
"What we recommend is that these containers be washed on a regular basis but in addition to the washing you should keep them covered. You can cover them or place a piece of screen on top of the container so the mosquito does not have access to the container and lay her eggs and then reproduce and multiply."
And if they can follow the basic guidelines of destroying breeding grounds for mosquito larvae, this dengue outbreak could be on a downswing.
Javier Alpuche,
"I believe that we have passed the worse of it in terms of cases but there are still work to be done in terms of eliminating breeding sites because if we do not take care of those activities then we may have another increase in cases in other areas."
If you have standing water in your yard that cannot be thrown out, health authorities advise that you can simply put a tablespoon of cooking oil and that will also kill the mosquito larvae.