Fishy solution to Fight off Dengue

PHILIPPINES – Government officials have joined a campaign hosted by the Association of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) to fight the spread of mosquitoes that cause dengue or hemmorhagic fever.

Health and social workers are urging residents to send text messages through their mobile phones to alert health centres nationwide about people suspected of having dengue. Said health officials, this will help government agencies extend early assistance to suspected denque victims.  A pilot test of the text messaging system approach to stop degue has been done in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The regional campaign, called ASEAN Unity for Dengue-Free Community, is an awareness programme simultaneously undertaken by all local government officials in ASEAN countries.

Apart from seeking an early treatment to dengue victims, the campaign also called on residents (ASEAN-wide) to say no to indiscriminate fogging (use of dangerous chemicals to eradicate mosquitoes in their breeding places).

A fishy solution to fight off dengue

Furthermore, Filipinos are encouraged to breed small milkfish, the country’s national fish. Touted as mosquito-fish, this type of fish has a rapacious appetite for mosquito larvae. This will help to stop the spread of dengue, said Roberto Garcia, a marine expert.

This breed of milk-fish can be bred in canals and other bodies of water as a “biological control of the deadly mosquitoes,” said Garcia, adding it was originally introduced worldwide to control malaria and was brought to the Philippines in the early 1900s.

Philippine health officials have forgotten about tuyong or milkfish and they do not know that it could be used to control dengue, said Dr Westly Rosario, chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ National Integrated Fisheries Technology and Development Center.

This mosquito-eating breed of milk-fish is small, like anchovy, with silvery skin and fan-like tail, said Rosario, adding they thrive when placed in a bucket of water and thrown into canals.

Source: GulfNews.com

Tags: dengue

Category: Community