SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 11. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Blas Trujillo, met this Friday with the authorities of La Palma in order to explain the protocol to follow after the detection of two ‘Aedes Aegypti’ mosquito larvae on the island.
The meeting, held electronically, was also attended by the director of the SCS, Conrado Domínguez, the director of Public Health, José Juan Alemán, as well as the director of the island’s Health Department, Kilian Sánchez, in addition to the president of the Cabildo, Mariano Hernández Zapata, the insular director of the General State Administration, Ana María de León and the mayors of La Palma, among others.
Blas Trujillo explained that the General Directorate of Public Health coordinates the Entomological Surveillance System of the Canary Islands, which has early detected the ‘Aedes Aegypti’ larvae on the island, so the action protocol is activated until the presence of the invasive mosquito is detected. there is and eradicate it.
The counselor conveyed peace of mind because the surveillance system has worked and the sequencing of the larvae reveals that they do not contain transmissible viruses.
In addition, he added that the advantage is that there is already experience in the detection and eradication of this species, after the discovery that occurred in 2017 in Fuerteventura.
The meeting, which also included the participation of the national head of Entomological Surveillance, Javier Lucientes, and the president of the Canarian Foundation for the Control of Tropical Diseases, Basilio Valladares, as well as the head of the Puerto de Santa Cruz area of the Authority Port Authority, Carlos Concepción, and the director of Aena, Mario Otero, explained the importance of extreme vigilance at all levels, both by citizens and by all administrations in order to detect this species as soon as possible if it find in the middle.
ELIMINATE STAGING WATERS
In this sense, it was requested to take extreme cleanliness and eliminate the points of stagnation of water both in the houses and in the streets.
Likewise, it was reported that the protocol that the Canary Islands Entomological Surveillance System, coordinated by the General Directorate of Public Health, will follow is to detect adult specimens, eggs or larvae of invasive mosquitoes early.
To this end, mosquito monitoring points have been expanded, in addition to the port and airport, which are the usual sites, in other risk areas such as greenhouses, cemeteries, tire dumps or banana packing plants.
Likewise, the bite surveillance program is activated in all health centers on the island and in pharmacies, through surveys carried out by health professionals.
If there is notification of bites, the Public Health inspectors analyze each case through a survey, photography of the bite and inspection of the home to search for and identify the mosquito, its larvae or its eggs, if any.
The Ministry also informs that citizen collaboration is important in this task of monitoring invasive species in the Canary Islands.
To do this, you can contact the General Directorate of Public Health, sending photos of the suspected mosquito to the email [email protected].
SEND PHOTOS OF BITES
You can also send photos of bites that are considered suspicious due to the strong inflammatory reaction accompanied by great itching.
Whenever photos of suspicious specimens or bites are sent, it is essential to clearly indicate the geographical location where the mosquito was detected or the suspicious bite was produced.
The ‘Aedes’ mosquitoes are black with stripes and smaller than the usual ones in the islands, they appear more in urban environments and have adapted to reproduce in small water points generated by man.
They usually bite during the day and not at night and their bite generates a strong inflammatory reaction that is accompanied by a great stinging.
Also, they move close to the ground nimbly and no buzzing is heard.
The female mosquitoes are the ones that bite, since they need to feed on blood to reproduce and they also need water (breeding points) to complete their development.
They lay their eggs in the water, from which the larvae will emerge, which will later transform into pupae (both aquatic) and which will finally become mosquitoes.
The mosquitoes that bite humans need to be breeding very close to them, so the most effective measure against them is to monitor or eliminate their breeding sites.
Since the beginning of this surveillance program, citizen collaboration has been considered very important to identify possible invasive mosquitoes and the elimination of their breeding sites.
