Health Update: Firm backs DoH call for pest-free environment | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

Firm backs DoH call for pest-free environment | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online: "To date, according to DoH Assistant Secretary Gerry Bayugo, 13,281 dengue cases have been admitted in hospitals nationwide, 2,870 of them coming from Metro Manila. The cases cover January-February period alone. The gravity of the situation needs community sector action and it is needed now, he said Ruth C. Atienza, chief operating officer of the Mapecon, the country’s foremost authority on mosquito control, said that the company is one with DoH in the campaign but stresses the current practice of aerial spraying (fogging) is not the answer to the mosquito problem. The process, she points out, does not work on airborne mosquitoes as they simply fly away during spraying.

She likewise cautioned the public on mosquito bite during daytime. Dengue is caused by female ‘aegis aegypti’ mosquitoes which bite during the day.

The most effective way of eliminating mosquitoes, according to her, is to attack (spray) their breeding places in stagnant murky water, particularly non-running esteros. This is a sure way of eliminating the larvae before there are hatched."