Mosquito nuisance bites at airport

Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Dr Ronald Georges said the authorities have received a number of complaints about a mosquito nuisance around Terrence B Lettsome International Airport, adding that steps are being taken to address the matter.

“We’ve been working with the BVI Airports Authority to try to deal with their issues. We’ve received a number of complaints about mosquitoes around the airport and we’re definitely working with them to help with that. We continue to work with other agencies and other areas as part of the initiative,” Dr Georges said.

He, in the meantime, stated that there has not been any reported increase in mosquito-borne viruses since widespread flooding early this month.

“We haven’t had any Zika reported since last year. We have Dengue from time to time,” said Dr Georges.

While there is no upsurge in mosquito-related illness since the August 7 flood, Dr Georges said the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is not yet out of the proverbial woods.

“After the flooding you’d expect the first couple of mosquitoes to have come up within a week. With the absence of rain, we expect those mosquito breeding sites to reduce slightly over the next week or two weeks. If that is coupled with people cleaning up and surveillance for the environment – that kind of thing you’ll expect to go down even further,” Dr Georges said.

He continued: “It is projected to be a very active hurricane season… We definitely have to be mindful of the fact – that we’re expecting more rains for the rest of the season, and therefore with that you can expect mosquito breeding to be a problem or a concern particularly if we don’t look at our environment and deal with mosquito breeding sites.”

Dr Georges added that the Ministry of Health is continuing to monitor the threat of mosquito-borne viruses in the BVI.

Health minister Ronnie Skelton, a few days ago, also urged residents to be wary of mosquito breeding and the transmission of viruses such as Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika.