Dengue
Identifying the problem
- Dengue is a flu-like viral disease spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Aedes aegypti mosquito is the most important dengue vector of the occidental hemisphere.
- Nowadays, 55% of the Argentinean population (20 million habitants) is at risk of contracting dengue.(1)
- Due it does not exist a vaccine, prevention centers on working against the Aedes aegyti mosquito, transmitter of this disease.
- Dengue occurs in most tropical areas of the World. Nowadays the subtropical weather in the central part of the country, including Buenos Aires and the cone urban, has provided favorable conditions for Aedes aegypti from October to June, therefore active controls are necessary during this part of the year.
- Apart from Dengue and Dengue hemorragic, there are other patologies transmitted by mosquitoes, like encephalitis and the West Nile Virus(2)
The vector
Morphologic characteristic:
- Dark extremities with rings in the articulations.
- Shield with lyra-shaped silvery scales.
Distribution: cosmo-tropical, between 20ºC isotherms.
Presence in Argentina:
Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Catamarca, Chaco, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, Mendoza, Misiones, Salta, Santa Fe, Santiago del estero and Tucumán provinces.
Ciclo de Vida
The appropriate moment for control is larval phase since:
- it is restricted to water areas;
- the reproductive cycle is interrupted, consequently there are not female adults with oviposition capacity;
- -from an environmental point of view, control of adult mosquitos in water areas is more practical than aerial fumigation
