THE ongoing outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted viral disease dengue in Malaysia is one of the worst in living memory (“Dengue cases at an all-time high”, The Star, Aug 10; online at bit.ly/star_cases). The number of confirmed cases is approaching 100,000 so far in 2019, approximately double that reported during the same period last year.While reasons for this public health emergency are multifactorial, containment of the spread of the virus should be the foremost priority of all agencies involved – the government, NGOs, local authorities, commercial businesses and community stakeholders. At present, no efficacious vaccine or antiviral drug exists to combat dengue. Hence, the onus falls on the far less high-tech approach of controlling the vector, the Aedes mosquito.
Many industrialised nations effectively prevent mosquitoes through heavy investment in insecticide spraying. However, in developing countries application of larvicides to water reservoirs and household fumigation is frequently neither adequate nor consistent enough to eradicate entire local populations.
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