Fogging is just a band-aid solution

I REFER to the letter “Periodic fogging a must to control dengue” (The Star, Oct 5; online at https://bit.ly/3EkkRJa).

I disagree with the view that regular fogging is the solution to controlling dengue in Malaysia. As rightly highlighted by the Health Ministry, the ultimate solution is to prevent the Aedes mosquito from breeding (source reduction). This entails destroying all potential mosquito breeding sites in the locality through effective waste collection services, community participation to remove potential mosquito breeding containers at home/work and stopping indiscriminate littering of the environment.

Even if fogging is able to kill all Aedes mosquitoes in a locality, which is practically impossible, a new batch of infective mosquitoes will hatch in one week if the breeding sites remain undisturbed.

Apart from the limited impact of fogging, various studies have showed that continued indiscriminate fogging builds up insecticide resistance in Aedes mosqitoes, potentially rendering the current insecticides ineffective in future. This is apart from the environmental impact of continuous fogging on the ecosystem, as fogging also kills other important insects.

Thus, the dengue prevention mantra should be “Everyday Cleanliness: Anytime, Everywhere”.

DR VENUGOPALAN K. BALAN

Senior Public Health consultant

Taylors University,

Subang Jaya