Dengue prevention only takes 10 minutes per week - Expert

File photo.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 -- Most people know that the rainy season would result in a rise in the Aedes mosquito breeding grounds which would cause an increase in the number of dengue, Chikungunya and Zika cases.

But not many know that the prevention of the Aedes mosquito would only take 10 minutes of their time a week by destroying the breeding grounds to halt the laying of eggs.

Head of the Vector-Borne Disease Section of the Health Ministry Dr Rose Nani Mudin said people needed to be proactive and initiate efforts to fight the dengue menace by finding and destroying the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquito.

“During the rainy season, collected water can breed Aedes mosquito. Give priority to keeping your surroundings clean and free of the breeding grounds of mosquitoes.

"Spend 10 minutes a week to find and destroy Aedes breeding grounds," she told Bernama.

Dr Rose Nani said climate change, especially the alternate rainy and hot seasons, was among the factors that could cause the Aedes breeding to increase.

“Measures that can be taken to protect ourselves against mosquito bites are spraying aerosol to kill adult mosquitoes, using insect repellent and wearing bright-coloured clothing that covered the whole body especially when outdoors.

“Others are to use ‘abate’ in any pool of water and install insect screens on windows and doors," she said. 

She said Aedes mosquito is a carrier of the dengue, Chikungunya, Zika and Yellow Fever viruses, but in Malaysia there are only cases of dengue, Chikungunya and Zika fevers.

Dr Rose Nani said between January and Oct 20 this year, the number of dengue cases was 106,660 compared to 59,657 cases during the corresponding period last year.

The figure showed an increase of 78.8 per cent (47,003 cases) with 153 deaths compared to 101 deaths last year, an increase of 51.5 per cent (52 deaths).

Selangor recorded the highest number of dengue fever cases at 59,001 followed by Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (13,242), Johor (9,037), Kelantan (4,894), Sabah (4,348) and Penang (3,735).

Nine cases of Zika virus had been recorded so far, one case this year and eight cases in 2016.

Meanwhile, senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi MARA's Centre of Environmental Health and Safety Assoc Prof Dr Nazri Che Dom said Malaysia’s humid climate was conducive for the breeding and resilience of vector populations, speeding up of the virus replication process and could affect the life cycle of mosquitoes.

He said Aedes mosquitoes can breed in huge numbers in one week in just a few millimetres of clear water.

-- BERNAMA