Mozzies are a part of the tropics!
There are many different species here - some daytime active and others
nocturnal - People do live here and most of them don't ever pick up a mosquito-borne virus. But the one which gets everybody's attention is the Dengue mosquito (Aedes aegypti).
The spread of viruses by mosquitoes is a real concern in the tropics.
In Australia, this mosquito is currently only found
in inland and coastal population centres of Queensland. There is a potential however for Aedes aegypti to establish itself
in other areas such as the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South-east Queensland and New South Wales.
| Aedes Aegypti Mozzie |
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| Dengue Carrier |
Mosquitoes
carry many dangerous diseases like Ross River Fever, Dengue Fever, or even Malaria all which can have serious consequences
for humans. Catching Dengue Fever a second time can be life-threatening and Malaria still remains endemic today throughout
most of Africa and Asia causing more than 225 million cases of malaria, killing around 781,000 people each year. Prevention
of mozzie bites still remains the key to avoidance of these infectious diseases.
The spread of a mosquito-borne virus requires two things: a person with the disease already and the right species
of mozzie to pick it up. A mozzie bites a person who has the virus it is able to carry and it picks it up. It flies off to
someone else and bites them and the virus is transferred. The Dengue mozzie can only carry Dengue virus and not others virus.
A different mozzie is responsible for Ross River fever and the same for Malaria.
Mozzies love standing water to breed in. So
the elimination of breeding sites is a very effective way to reduce their numbers on your property. Water can collect in lots
of things around your yard: plant cuttings/vases, pot plant bases, tin cans and plastic containers, birdbaths, wheelie
bins with its lid left open, palm frond bases left on the ground, a clogged gutter, black plastic and tarpaulins....etc. The
water sits in these and a few days later, there are little wriggling things in it. So one way to reduce
mozzie numbers is clear up any items in your yard where water can collect. Keep your roof gutters clean and remove the bases
from outdoor pot plants during the wet season. If you are trying to grow cuttings, dump out the water in the garden every
few days and refill it with fresh water.
You’ve been responsible and eliminated those mozzie reproduction sites on your property - what about your neighbourhood's
mozzies? The next way to keep mozzies away from you is to use repellent methods and burning mosquito coils still remains one
of the most cost effective ways of deterring mozzie bites. Mozzie coils and candles containing citronella fill the air with
a scent that mozzies don't like and so they stay away while these items are burned. Councils frequently use pyrethrin fogging
to control mozzies. Our recommendations to you for mozzie control is to patrol your property regularly to eliminate breeding sites; and
use coils to create exclusion zones around your yard. Have flyscreens installed on your windows to keep bugs out of the house
and let the geckos, skinks and spiders control these tiny bugs. The Public Health Unit in Cairns is also still
experimenting with new repellents and baits that might help reduce Dengue mozzie numbers but these are still in development.
You might want to contact the Public Health Unit for more information about mozzie control before you phone council to request
a fogging.
| Defend Against Dengue |
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| Click to Visit - Queensland Health |
jkjQueensland Health provides a lot of useful information about dengue fever in the region. Current outbreaks are also available from their website, please click on the picture to be taken to their website. llll
In
2009, Cairns reached an epidemic status with over nine hundred cases of dengue type 3 being confirmed in the Far North Queensland
region. Cairns in 2010 had twenty-one cases of type 2 dengue and Townsville,
as of December 2010, has had 10 cases of type 1 dengue and three cases of type 3 with five cases of type 2.
In early
2011 there have already been 31 cases of type 2 in the Townsville suburb of Hermit Park and Mundingburra and 8 cases of type
1 dengue in the suburbs of Cranbrook and West End. In the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi, the small township of Innisfail
currently has 44 cases of type 2 dengue with another 8 cases of type 4.
Luckily heavy rains from the monsoon trough across the Far
North have flushed out mozzie breeding sites at present but we know in the tropics that this won’t last too long and
the little blood sucking mozzies will be back.
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