Tahna Weston
Residents in the All Saints East and St Luke constituency have reportedly been complaining about the mosquito infestation and have expressed their concerns over the diseases which can be contracted as a result.
Leader of the Opposition, Jamale Pringle, who is also the Member of Parliament for the area, said there seems to be a lack of fogging in the area by the Central Board of Health (CBH) which is responsible for vector control.
CBH on a weekly basis put out schedules for its fogging exercises, which can be found on its Facebook page.
Pringle is concerned that residents could be exposed to mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and Chikungunya.
He said he will be reaching out to Chief Health Inspector Sharon Martin to see what can be done to assist his constituents.
“I haven’t seen the fogging machine in All Saints East and St Luke for probably the last 14 years. It’s a sad case for us in All Saints East and St Luke. I met with the chief, I asked for assistance and I know where they can assist, they have.
“In some cases she has offered assistance in cleaning. The mosquito situation is one where it just started in terms of the complaints as to how bad it is in that … constituency and I am reaching out to her again, so that she can come and offer some assistance,” Pringle said.
The All Saints East and St Luke MP said that he will be calling and writing to the Chief Health Inspector “because I realise at times you have to have that paper trail to show that you would have reached out”.
Pringle noted that his correspondence would be delivered to CBH by the end of this week.
However, the Deputy Chief Health Inspector, Daryl Spencer, said that while he takes on board the concerns being expressed by Pringle, vector control is a multi-faceted approach.
Spencer said that the CBH has been making use of a number of methods in an effort to try and control the mosquito population.
“There are many things the Central Board of Health takes into consideration as it relates to when, how … we fog, for instance, there are some communities that have a diverse ecosystem, because the fog does not only kill mosquitoes, it will kill other beneficial insects.
“Sometimes the layout of the community does not allow for fogging to be effective. It must be stated that the vector control department, we try to make it an integrated approach … but there is a very active perifocal treatment or control of the larvae and the pupae of the mosquito,” he explained.
Spencer said that up to 70 persons are involved daily in the control of the mosquito population.
He admitted that in the past it was a practice of the department to fog on a wide scale, however, it tries to limit this exercise as much as possible because the chemicals being used are reserved for emergency purposes or if an issue arises where the mosquito situation is at a point beyond the department’s control.
He also confirmed that there is still an active schedule for fogging but it has been reduced.
“We do not have as we did years ago, seven, 10, 14, 15 trucks going out and spraying, but what we do have is we base it a lot on the Breteau index. And the Breteau index is a measure of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that is in a community and, based on that, from time to time we dispatch a team to knock down the adult population.
“Now, I also want to share that we have about 17 species of mosquitoes in Antigua and the focus of a lot of our attention is on that species-one species of mosquito that causes Chikungunya, dengue fever (and) Zika – the Aedes Aegypti mosquito,” the deputy chief health inspector said.
Spencer said that the department’s focus is on controlling the disease transmission of this vector, in which residents can play a major role by keeping their surroundings clean and ensuring that water catchment containers are properly covered.
According to Spencer, CBH tries to keep the Breteau index under five, adding that All Saints East and St Luke is not one of those areas with a high mosquito breeding population.
The constituency includes portions of All Saints, Tyrells, Swetes, John Hughes, and Old Road.
