HCM City using thermal foggers to kill mosquitoes
The HCM City Preventive Health Centre is piloting the use of thermal foggers to kill mosquitoes, replacing the ultra-low volume (UTL) cold fogger, as the number of Zika incidences continues to increase. Dr Le Hong Nga, head of the health centre, said the machines spray dense fog that stays in the air and oÂn plants longer than the UTL cold fogger machines. However, the disadvantage of the dense thermal fogger is that the fog could impair drivers' vision. It could also activate fire alarms when sprayed inside buildings. City officials said the thermal foggers were being used outside buildings oÂnly. The city used the thermal foggers to spray the campuses of HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Thu Duc district, the College of Finance and Customs in District 9, and the University of Transport and Communications in District 2 oÂn December 4. Dormitories and university grounds are at high risk because of discarded water containers that have favorable conditions for mosquitoes. As of December of 4, the number of Zika incidences in the city had increased to 94 in 19 out of 24 districts. Of these, 12 were pregnant women. Although the centre has expanded the spraying of chemicals to kill mosquitoes, the Ministry of Health has urged households to clean their houses and neighbouring areas and get rid of containers of water, which could be home to mosquito larvae.
Khanh Hoa beefs up prevention against Zika virus, dengue
Decontaminating residential areas in Phuoc Hoa Ward, Nha Trang (Photo: qdnd.vn)
The health sector of the central province of Khanh Hoa is stepping up measures to prevent Zika virus and dengue fever. Khanh Hoa has so far recorded four Zika infections in Nha Trang city and over 4,500 cases of dengue fever, including four fatalities. The work focuses oÂn decontaminating residential areas to kill mosquitoes and mosquito larvae, stocking sufficient medicine and improving treatment quality. Attention has also been paid to raising public awareness of measures to prevent dengue and disease caused by Zika virus. The provincial department of health has requested health units to intensify monitoring and taking samples for testing to timely detect Zika infections. The local health sector has found that among 23,000 individual Aedes aegypty mosquitoes collected during 2015-2016, 56 were positive with Zika virus, which shows that the virus has existed in the natural mosquito population in the locality.