15 December
THE breeding rate of mosquito is tremendously great in the world. We humans should not think this situation flippantly as these dreadful flying insects are the deadliest ones and the diseases related to mosquito bite kill around two million humans every year. In other words, mosquitoes, the flying insects can be called man-eaters. Globally and locally, we need to eradicate the mosquito breeding or breeding sites both in rural and in urban areas. Nowadays, the mosquitoes are immune to the insect killers or fumigation or insecticides. The people dwelling in the metropolis, megalopolis, towns, and villages equally suffer from lethal diseases related to a mosquito bite.
Presently, Myanmar people and government are also cooperating in combating the infections and diseases caused by mosquito bite. In 1960 and ‘70s, there had been a sanitation program of community voluntary activities in the respective wards and streets of community in Yangon and other cities every weekend. People took part in that program actively and voluntarily. The dwellers concerned did the sanitation work properly and the workers of Yangon Municipal Corporation (the then YCDC) also assisted in collecting the rubbish and garbage sending them to the proper dumping places. The community volunteers and the workers of Yangon Municipal Corporation flushed the dirty water in the drains and ditches in the streets to ensure that the smooth water flow can be made possible.
The weekend- voluntary-sanitation-work revealed that we Myanmar are always alert to cleanse in- and-out- of- our- houses- andstreets so that we can get rid of garbage-borne insects and flying insects such as flies, mosquitoes. Due to regular sanitation work conducted by Yangon Municipal Corporation now known as YCDC and the weekend- voluntary-sanitation–work in community, other infectious germs carriers like rodents and cockroaches could not get a host for breeding around the community residents. In other words, it was a task to prevent mosquito breeding. Moreover, during excessive governments, Yangon Municipal had bred larvivorous fish in the ditches in the streets within Municipal areas in order to kill mosquitoes.
These fish eat mosquito larvae and pupae. In fact, this is the Biological Control of Mosquito Vectors. There are many ways to kill mosquitoes and clearing mosquito breeding sites. However, nowadays, due to the increasing number of population and greater amount of garbage in Yangon, mosquito breeding sites are getting larger. Tons of garbage, waste and trash are being collected and dumped at the dumping ground by YCDC’s dumper trucks. In addition, YCDC’s sanitation work and cleansing work in public areas and daily bazaars are being done round –the- clock thoroughly. On the other hand, public health care center has been widely disseminating the knowledge about how to prevent from mosquito borne vectors and distributing mosquito-killing insecticides to the public. People are aware of the scourge of the mosquito-borne viruses. They try to clear and cleanse their environment or neighborhood on a regular basis.
Schools, colleges, market places, government office compounds are being kept clean to ensure that there will be no mosquito breeding sites. Regular fumigation is made in all levels of schools in Yangon and other cities in Myanmar. These are health care activities and doing preventive measures to get rid of contagious diseases transmitted to humans by a variety of mosquitoes. Obviously, the performances of Public health services and YCDC keep the Yangon city clean the city dwellers healthy. Anyway, their work can eradicate the dreadful flying- insect –mosquitoes and breeding growth effectively.
Study on the annual average number of human death toll caused by mosquito bite worldwide In the world, humans are being killed by man himself or by any other animals or by insects annually. The following is the annual average number of a death toll of humans worldwide caused by;
• Mosquitoes : 2 million
• Humans : 475,000
• Snakes:50,000
• Sandflies:25,000
• Tsetse flies :10,000
• Crocodiles:1000
• Hippos:500
• Elephants: Lions100
• Sharks:10
• Wolves:10
It is learnt that the annual average number of humans death toll caused by mosquitoes is the highest. We can say mosquitoes as man-eaters
Common mosquito-borne viruses (MBVs ) of global health concern include the dengue (DENV),Chikungunya (CHIKV),Zika ( ZIKV),yellow fever (YFV), Rift Valley fever (RVFV),West –Nile (WNV) and Japanese encephalitis (JEV)viruses. They are detrimental to public health around the world.
ansmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with dengue virus. Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses.
Chikungunya; Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes.
Malaria; Adult anopheles mosquitoes transmit Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria.
Zika Virus infection; Zika virus infection is caused by the Zika Virus (ZIKV) Zika Virus infection is caused by the Zika Virus (ZIKV) belonging to the Flaviviridae family. The virus is primarily transmitted by infected daytime biting female Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes which are typically active from dawn to dusk. There is evidence that Zika Virus is also transmitted by other mosquitoes belonging to the Aedes genus. The virus can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus.
Insecticide resistance
Vector control strategies have traditionally focused on killing mosquitoes using a variety of insecticides. Environmental management (through reduction or removal of mosquito breeding sites) has often been used alongside chemical or microbiological ovicides, larvicides, and pupicides in areas where endemic mosquito- borne diseases occur. The use of synthetic insecticides has to be regulated given that the development of insecticide resistance is widespread and that there is concern regarding the damage to the environment and effects on non-target organisms.
The use of insecticides for mosquito control, including organophosphates, carbonates, and pyrethroids, can also have negative effects on human health. Personal protection against mosquito- borne diseases can involve the use of mosquito repellents such as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluidine (DEET), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), N,N-diethyl mendelic acid amide (DEM), as well as plantborne molecules, light-coloured clothes covering as much of the body as possible, and sleeping under mosquito nets. Insecticide- treated bed nets have played a very important role in the reduction of Plasmodium falciparum infection prevalence in malaria endemic Sub-Saharan Africa, which has seen the incidence of clinical disease fall by 40% between 2000 and 2015 .However, bed nets are only effective against mosquitoes that bite during the night and concern is growing that insecticide resistance, particularly due to the most commonly used class of pyrethroids, could reverse this trend and lead to rising incidence of malaria and increased fatalities.
As insecticide resistance is now widespread in a number of mosquito species, there is a growing need for novel, cheap, and reliable mosquito control strategies.
In many countries where mosquito-borne diseases are endemic, the financial burden of insecticide-based vector control programs is also prohibitive to widespread use. Environmentally friendly alternatives have been explored to help reduce the selection pressure for insecticide resistance. These various bio control strategies target different stages of the mosquito lifecycle with the aim of being safe for the environment and sustainable. These diverse bio control strategies include natural organisms that kill mosquitoes, exploiting mosquito behavior to improve mosquito mortality, and releasing mosquitoes that are either sterile or unable to transmit disease.
Singapore
Singapore is also combating mosquito vectors. Recently, it unveils a new mosquito breeding facility that will help the city-state step up its fight against dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases. The facility’s automated devices and other mosquito-borne diseases. The facility’s automated devices will allow researchers to boost breeding of mosquitoes carrying wolbachia, a bacteria which reduces the insects ’ability to spread viruses. ( AFP news )
WHO‘s Mosquito Sterilization
A technique that sterilizes male mosquitoes using radiation will soon be tested as part of global health efforts to control diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is a form of insect birth control. The process involves rearing large quantities of sterilized male mosquitoes in dedicated facilities, and then releasing them to mate with females in the wild. As they do not produce any offspring, the insect population declines over time.
Since mosquito bite is a global concern, man is making effort to eliminate the diseases caused by the flying-inset-mosquito and stop the growing mosquito breeding through biological control or advance potent insecticides. The public health service providers of each and every country should prevent from the losses of human lives caused by the danger of life-threatening virus carriers_ mosquitoes!
Reference: AFP news Feature stories of WHO
By Tommy Pauk
