BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Chief public health inspector for St Elizabeth Everod Lewis says the parish’s public health department has been persistent in its fight to curtail mosquito-borne diseases, such as dengue.

Addressing the monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation in Black River last Thursday, Lewis said the Aedes index is at 20.8 per cent, noting that the parish has been experiencing increased rainfall which leads to an increase in the mosquito population.

“We at the St Elizabeth Public Health Department continue to work assiduously across the parish, trying to maintain the Aedes index at an acceptable level, despite the rains that we have been having,” he said.

The Aedes index refers to the percentage of premises or homes in a limited, well-defined space, where actual breeding of the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found and the total number of houses examined in that area.

Lewis pointed out that vector control workers carried out mosquito eradication activities across 9,961 homes over the past month.

“We tried our best to cover as much as we could as it relates to home inspections. We were able to carry out fogging right across the parish in general within the areas of Santa Cruz, Brompton, Junction, Siloah and other areas,” he said.

“We also want persons to understand that we do have a challenge at this time with the Culex mosquito as a result of the rain that has been happening, but our complaints are not as many as before,” he added.

Lewis further noted that the areas with a high Culex population are being tackled by the vector control team.