SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands reports this Wednesday that the Entomological Surveillance System of the Canary Islands, coordinated by the General Directorate of Public Health, has identified the risk points close to the residence of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in which the specimens of the ‘Aedes aegypti’ mosquito, as established in the action protocol.
In addition, the area has been fenced off to carry out inspection tasks and location of possible breeding sites, if any.
During the morning of this Wednesday, a plant that was in the house was also identified as a possible hatchery, so the traceability of the product that had been recently acquired was going to be carried out.
At the same time, the affected homes are being inspected to proceed, if necessary, with the corresponding fumigation tasks.
The ‘Aedes aegypti’ is a black-striped mosquito, smaller than the usual ones in the archipelago, which appears more in urban environments and has adapted to reproduce in small man-made water spots.
It is also a vector for the transmission of viral diseases in other geographical areas where these pathologies are endemic, which is not the case in the Canary Islands.
For now, no bites have been reported and the presence of the mosquito does not imply the transmission of diseases such as dengue, Zika, yellow fever or chicungunya, since they are not present on the islands, except for sporadic imported cases.
REFERENCE CENTERS
The surveillance system team has activated the bite surveillance program in the island’s health centers and pharmacies, by conducting surveys by health professionals in case people with compatible bites come, they can be easily detectable.
Health highlights in a note that citizens can send photos of suspected presence of ‘Aedes aegypti’ to the email account [email protected] or images of strong inflammatory reactions due to bites if they occur, indicating the geographical location in the that has been located and a phone number.
The Ministry emphasizes that the surveillance system is effective in detecting even invasive mosquito larvae and eggs early, before they have caused bites in the island’s population.
In this sense, it indicates that all the necessary information is being collected to delimit, verify and, where appropriate, eradicate the presence of this mosquito on the island.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPECIES
The ‘Aedes aegypti’ usually bites during the day and not at night and its bite generates a strong inflammatory reaction that is accompanied by great itching.
They move close to the ground agilely and there is no buzzing and the female mosquitoes are the ones that bite as they need to feed on blood to reproduce.
They also need water (breeding points) to complete their development because 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.
Mosquitoes that bite humans need to be breeding very much and that is why the most effective measure 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.
DETECTION EXPERIENCE
The Canary Islands Entomological Surveillance system remains active after the detection of larvae on La Palma in March of this year, with no more larvae or mosquitoes appearing, and the eradication of the species in 2017, in Fuerteventura.
The Canary Islands have had an Entomological Surveillance System since 2013, coordinated by the General Directorate of Public Health in collaboration with the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the University of La Laguna, with the aim of early detection of the possible appearance of mosquitoes invaders.
The objective of the Entomological Surveillance System of the Canary Islands is to detect early adult specimens, eggs or larvae of invasive mosquitoes.
To this end, the following actions are determined: various devices implanted in the main entry points for mosquitoes in the archipelago are monitored, such as ports and airports and certain greenhouses; a bite surveillance program is activated in all health centers on the island and in pharmacies, by conducting surveys by health professionals and if there were notifications of bites, Public Health inspectors analyze each case through a survey , photograph of the bite and inspection of the house for the search and identification of the mosquito, its larvae or its eggs, if any.
