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The drop in dengue cases in Efate is a feather in the cap for the World Mosquito Programme’s Wolbachia Project that began in 2018.
Acting Health Information System (HIS) Officer of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Mahlon Tari confirmed that of 2019, there have been no cases of dengue reported in Efate.
According to the HIS officer, 2016 recorded the highest number of dengue patients admitted with 47, a year after it dropped to 38 patients, 2018 recorded five patients and when the Wolbachia programme was implemented last year there was none.
Upon discovering the drop in dengue cases, the National Vector Surveillance and Control Officer Lekon Tagavi said: “I think it’s good news for the program and Vanuatu as a whole and it is something we (MoH) and communities should be educated on, to maintain and continue to take precautionary measures to keep us safe from dengue.”
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Ms. Tagavi added that dengue cases would normally be high in January however, that wasn’t the case for 2019 and this year, “We think slowly but successful, we still need more monitoring phase to see if the Wolbachia mosquitoes have fully entered the wild and corroborate that with the hospital in terms of cases.”
When asked directly if Wolbachia is responsible for this she said: “I believe it is somehow, if we compare to the epidemiological data (dengue case) for the past 5-6years there has been a big difference, but at this point we can only say that the ‘W’ is successfully passing on to the wild Aedes mosquito and yes it can be one reason to the significant decrease.
wikipedia
- Oct 10, 2020
The drop in dengue cases in Efate is a feather in the cap for the World Mosquito Programme’s Wolbachia Project that began in 2018.
Acting Health Information System (HIS) Officer of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Mahlon Tari confirmed that of 2019, there have been no cases of dengue reported in Efate.
According to the HIS officer, 2016 recorded the highest number of dengue patients admitted with 47, a year after it dropped to 38 patients, 2018 recorded five patients and when the Wolbachia programme was implemented last year there was none.
Upon discovering the drop in dengue cases, the National Vector Surveillance and Control Officer Lekon Tagavi said: “I think it’s good news for the program and Vanuatu as a whole and it is something we (MoH) and communities should be educated on, to maintain and continue to take precautionary measures to keep us safe from dengue.”
”
Ms. Tagavi added that dengue cases would normally be high in January however, that wasn’t the case for 2019 and this year, “We think slowly but successful, we still need more monitoring phase to see if the Wolbachia mosquitoes have fully entered the wild and corroborate that with the hospital in terms of cases.”
When asked directly if Wolbachia is responsible for this she said: “I believe it is somehow, if we compare to the epidemiological data (dengue case) for the past 5-6years there has been a big difference, but at this point we can only say that the ‘W’ is successfully passing on to the wild Aedes mosquito and yes it can be one reason to the significant decrease.
wikipedia
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