THE number of dengue patients has increased in recent weeks. Now, people are also concerned about the Zika virus, an epidemic in South American countries. As such, steps must be taken against not only dengue and Zika but also mosquito-borne diseases in our country.
Mosquito-borne diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites transmitted through mosquitoes. They can even transmit disease without being affected themselves.
Diseases commonly known to have been transmitted by mosquitoes include malaria, dengue, filariasis, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis, western equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis and Zika.
There are many steps that can be taken against mosquito-borne diseases, such as ensuring the cleanliness of our surroundings to prevent them from becoming mosquito-breeding grounds.
Instead of using a chemical substance to control or prevent the breeding of mosquito larvae, it
is better to adopt biological control.
There have been studies and researches done to find a better solution to control and prevent mosquito breeding.
Biological control is the preferred control tool, instead of the use of chemicals, as it is chea-
per, safer, environmentally friendly, effective and easy to implement.
Biological control makes use of living organism to control a vector. The methods are important in protecting the public from mosquitoes.
The primary biological control we can use is the mosquito fish or Gambusia affinis. It feeds on mosquito larvae, allowing us to keep mosquito populations under control.
Besides that, we can also consider using guppy fish or Poecilia reticulata, which has been used for biological mosquito control since World War 1. It has been introduced almost all parts of the word.
In many areas, guppy fish have provided good control of mosqui-toes in highly-polluted sources, such as sewage pools, dairy lagoons, chicken ranch ditches and slightly acidic sources.
Other predators said to have potential value to control mosquito breeding include dragonfly naiads, which consume mosquito larvae while adult dragonflies eat adult mosquitoes.
The Health Ministry and ex-
perts in local universities can conduct research to find out more biological steps to prevent mosqui- toes from breeding.
It is important to note that it’s possible to reduce mosquitoes in homes through natural or biological means.
There are many predatory fish, plant repellents, bacteria and even certain categories of less harmful mosquitoes, that can reduce the number of mosquitoes.
In addition to fogging or using chemical substances, we should also consider using natural methods.
DR MUZAFFAR SYAH MALLOW,
Senior lecturer, Faculty of Syariah & Law, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia,
Nilai, Negri Sembilan