MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mosquito “egg-traps” confirm Buenos Aires City is widely exposed to dengue

Traps and robots to combat the mosquito transmitted disease

Over half the surface of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires is exposed to the mosquito that carries and transmits dengue, according to research from the University of Buenos Aires published last Sunday.

To arrive to this conclusion the University stationed 210 “egg-traps” in different sites of the city, particularly where cases were reported last year, and “over 90 of them proved to be positive”, said Diego Santilli Buenos Aires Environment Minister quoted by the city’s press.

The capture of the eggs laid by the Aedes Aegypty female mosquito is collected in plastic recipients.

To combat the situation city government authorities have ordered ten daily fumigations in those places where dengue has been reported or could be better suited to nest the transmitting mosquito, added Santelli.

Last weekend two robots were installed at the Buenos Aires Botanical Gardens. They liberate carbon dioxide simulating human breathing so at to attract and trap mosquitoes in a radius of 50 metres.

The US designed and manufactured equipment capture an average of 1.500 female mosquitoes per day and if we take into account that each of them can lay 300 eggs in a day, it means the robots are capturing and eliminating what could have been in normal conditions a crop of 45.000 mosquitoes.

Buenos Aires city Health Minister Jorge Lemus said last Friday that there are four confirmed cases of dengue, imported, in the city but that all patients have been cared for and are back home.

The four cases were imported from the northern province of Misiones, Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay, according to the authorities.

So far this season Argentina has reported 62 confirmed cases of dengue, most of them in the northern province of Misiones, which borders with Brazil and Paraguay.

In the first half of 2009, Argentina reported 50.000 cases of dengue which caused an estimated ten deaths, the worst epidemics in the country.

According to the World Health Organization dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Symptoms appear 3—14 days after the infective bite. Dengue fever is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults.

Symptoms range from a mild fever, to incapacitating high fever, with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and rash. There are no specific antiviral medicines for dengue. It is important to maintain hydration. Use of acetylsalicylic acid (e.g. aspirin) and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g. Ibuprofen) is not recommended.

Dengue haemorrhagic fever (fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding) is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management by experienced physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.