New discovery about mosquitoes causing dengue fever
“We were surprised to find dengue-transmitting Aedes mosquitoes but no larvae. In fact, they have found new, very hidden places to live.”
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| Mosquito samples for disease prevention research. |
That is the comment of Dr. Tran Vu Phong, Head of the Department of Entomology and Medical Zoology (National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Ministry of Health). As someone who has participated in mosquito and insect surveillance for many years, Dr. Phong said: “We also tried to find out why there were mosquitoes transmitting the disease in dengue fever outbreaks but no larvae nests. Finally, when we turned over the refrigerators, we saw that the trays containing stagnant water under the refrigerators in families had many larvae nests.
Reality shows that the Aedes mosquito that transmits dengue fever is becoming smarter and more cunning. There are larvae nests that we normally cannot expect. This mosquito species has found places that humans cannot detect to lay eggs. This is a huge difficulty in preventing dengue fever,” the expert commented.
To spray chemicals to kill Aedes mosquitoes, experts had to plan the "golden" hours when they go out to "feed" to destroy them. Of these, the peak hours of Aedes activity are early morning and late afternoon.
In particular, according to experts, Aedes mosquitoes love to suck human blood and often live indoors, near people. Only females suck blood to have "nutrients" for eggs to develop. Indoors, Aedes mosquitoes like to live in dark places, on dark clothes, half-worn clothes on hangers, not on walls.
“Aedes mosquitoes are very sensitive, they sense people very quickly, and swoop in to bite us as soon as we enter the house. When we wake up and get out of the mosquito net, they have already jumped in,” said Dr. Vu Sinh Nam, an expert at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, who has decades of research on mosquito species.
Dr. Nam noted that Aedes mosquito eggs can stick to the surface of water containers and stay thirsty for a long time. When it rains and the sun shines, they immediately develop into larvae nests, mature into new generations of mosquitoes and seek to bite people. A female mosquito infected with the dengue virus that causes dengue fever will have eggs, larvae and new generations of mosquitoes that also carry the virus, continue to bite people, transmit the virus that causes the disease, causing the epidemic to spread rapidly.
Mr. Nguyen Nhat Cam, Director of the Hanoi Center for Preventive Medicine, said that the health sector is conducting widespread mosquito spraying throughout Hanoi from now until the end of August. This is a large-scale campaign, mobilizing many forces to participate, including the army and militia. However, spraying mosquito spraying will not be able to completely suppress the epidemic if there are still mosquito larvae in households.
There is currently no vaccine or specific treatment for dengue fever. The main and effective preventive measures are to kill mosquitoes, larvae and prevent mosquito bites. The Ministry of Health recommends that people take the following preventive measures: 1. Cover all water containers tightly to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs. 2. Weekly, take measures to kill mosquito larvae by putting fish in large water containers, washing medium and small water containers, turning over non-water containers, changing the water in flower vases, and adding salt or oil to the bowl of water placed on the cupboard legs. 3. Every week, remove waste materials and natural water holes that do not allow mosquitoes to lay eggs, such as bottles, jars, broken glass, coconut shells, broken jars, old tires/tires, bamboo holes, leaf sheaths, etc. 4. Sleep under mosquito nets and wear long clothes to prevent mosquito bites even during the day. 5. Actively coordinate with the health sector in chemical spraying campaigns to prevent and control epidemics./. |
According to TNO
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