Dengue Fever!

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An article pulled from the Townsville Bulletin.......

Townsville dengue fever outbreak hits 22-mark


January 29th, 2009

THE number of dengue fever cases in Townsville has grown to 22 - and public health officials say lazy homeowners are breeding mozzies and risking the lives of family and neighbours.

A new case of dengue fever has been confirmed in Wulguru.

There are 14 cases in North Ward, six in Belgian Gardens and one in Kirwan.

Fifteen cases are dengue type 1 and six are dengue type 3. The serotype of one case is yet to be confirmed.

Four Townsville City Council workers had spent almost 700 hours inspecting streets and backyards since the outbreak began on January 5, Community Safety and Health Committee chair Cr Dale Last said yesterday.

"What they're finding is 80 per cent of properties are non-compliant," Cr Last said.

"We're still finding potential breeding sites in backyards.

"The message that we need to reinforce is (residents) need to be much more vigilant."

Cr Last said heavy rainfall over the past few weeks had increased the potential for the dengue mosquito Aedes aegypti to breed.

"It (dengue fever) is starting to spread in the city, our greatest fear is we're going to get such a run on it," he said.

"The only way to stop it, is to stop the mosquito breeding."

Queensland Health senior medical entomologist Brian Montgomery said this year's outbreaks in North Queensland had the potential to match 2003 when 498 people were infected.

"(This is a) very fast virus - we haven't seen a virus transmission speed like this," Mr Montgomery said.

"This (outbreak) is more of a challenge because it's (spreading) much quicker and it's started much earlier (in the year).

"The concern for us is dengue is already in Cairns, it's already in Townsville (so) there's no reason to expect that dengue will go away in the next three months."

The type 3 outbreak in Cairns had affected 201 people by yesterday.

''Mosquitoes on your property are your responsibility, it's a requirement through legislation (to not breed mosquitoes)," Mr Montgomery said.

"People are simply putting themselves, their families and their neighbours at risk.

"The people of Cairns and Townsville have to realise it's mosquitoes in your backyard that are feeding this outbreak."

A new study published in the journal Functional Ecology has warned that people hoarding water in parched parts of the country are inadvertently creating perfect mosquito breeding grounds.

Research team leader Michael Kearney, of the University of Melbourne, called for a public awareness campaign to highlight the risk posed by increased household water storage.




It's me Laura again. I was sitting talking to my mom on the webcam today when I heard a knock on the door. It was guys from the city handing out fliers and telling people about the dengue outbreak. I thought he was just making people aware of it but then he came back a little while later with some other guys to lay down buckets to catch and test the mosquitos and some other guy was spraying the gutters. Okay I thought they were being extra careful and doing there rounds to all the houses in Townsville. Then a little while later ANOTHER guy came to spray the inside of the house for mosquitos!!! I told him that I would ask the owner of the house if she wanted chemicals spread in her house and to come back when she was home. It was raining though so he took shelter under the garage and I stayed and chatted for a bit (i'm a bit like an old lonely lady right now who talks peoples ears off after being home all day by myself haha) and I find out that there has been a case of dengue about 100 metres away. So we are now advised to wear bug spray even if we're in the house in the middle of the day. So I stink of bug spray all the time now and that's the story of the day.

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