Dubai Municipality confirmed that it sent a team to survey the first Al Barsha area in Dubai, and carried out chemical treatment of an artificial lake adjacent to the homes of residents, after its fountain was disrupted and a number of mosquitoes were gathered in it. The measure comes in response to complaints received by «Emirates Today» recently, about the exposure of residents in the region to severe pinch.
The municipality reassured the population that it would continue to search for any sources of insect gathering, to determine their breeding and spread sites, in preparation for their elimination.
Residents of Al Barsha had complained of mosquito attacks, finally, noting that the reason was the lake. They demanded a radical solution to it, fearing for their health and that of their children.
In detail, residents of Al Barsha 1 (South Dubai), Shorouq Al-Taher, Khawla Muhammad, Claire Albert, and Ahmed Salem, complained that they and their children had been subjected to attacks by mosquitoes for long periods of time throughout the year. They attributed the causes to a small artificial lake supervised by the municipality, as its waters are stagnant most of the time, due to the failure of its fountain, which resulted in the gathering of large quantities of mosquitoes, attacking their homes continuously, and disturbing their lives.
They said that they had experienced the problem for years, noting the necessity of a radical solution to it, especially since the spread of mosquitoes is accompanied by the emergence of other insects, such as spiders.
They demanded that the lake adjacent to their homes be removed, or that they be moved to places away from residential gatherings, especially since water pumps and their fountain are constantly stopping, resulting in large swarms of mosquitoes, exposing them to many health problems, and endangering the lives of their children.
For his part, the director of the Public Health Pest Control Section in the Public Health Services Department in Dubai Municipality, Eng. Hisham Abdul Rahman Al Yahya, told «Emirates Today» that the lake is not the main source of mosquitoes in the region, where the water is chemically treated continuously, but rather there are many reasons, depending on On monitoring the municipality employees, where it is evident that some residents neglect swimming pools, especially the housing units for rent, and the occurrence of water pools in some of the uninhabited housing resulting in a gathering of mosquitoes.
Al-Yahya stressed that the municipality recently sent a team to the area to conduct a survey, find out the most important causes of the problem, and search for foci of mosquitoes gathering and spreading, stressing that pest control measures are carried out continuously.
He said, "The Public Health Pest Control Section works through specialized work teams to carry out surveys, and to monitor and control public health pests in their breeding and spreading sites, especially mosquitoes that frequently abound in water bodies, as the appropriate and potential environment for their reproduction."
He added, "The department applies the integrated control strategy, which consists of using several compatible, homogeneous methods to combat public health pests aimed at reducing the use of pesticides, and resorting to them only when absolutely necessary."
He continued: «The department works according to specific targets specific to mosquito infection rates, as it carries out surveys and monitoring of mosquitoes around lakes, determining infection rates and implementing control operations in the event that the infection rates exceed these targets, bearing in mind that infection rates and mosquitoes’ spread in the Emirate of Dubai are less than the targets set in Business Plan and Dubai Strategic Plan ».
Al Yahya mentioned that fish are used to combat mosquito larvae, in order to reduce the use of pesticides and rationalize the costs of control and to preserve the health and safety of workers, the public and the environment. There is also a project for fish farming in the Public Health Pest Control Section that annually produces 20 thousand fish, used to combat mosquito larvae in water pools and basins Irrigation in farms, and this project won the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Award for Environmental Management in the Islamic World as the best environmental project.
Mosquito pinch
"The dermatology clinics finally receive cases of health problems caused by mosquito bites," said Dr. Anwar Al Hammadi, head of the dermatology department at the Emirates Medical Association, noting that allergies, swellings and high temperatures are the most prominent symptoms caused by a mosquito bite.
Al-Hammadi added: “In the event that people are exposed to mosquito bites, some first aid can be followed, such as putting snow on the affected area, and taking anti-allergic medicine for children and adults, as well as using topical creams containing a proportion of cortisone to reduce bloating. And if people experience more severe swelling around the joints, preventing them from moving, with a rise in body temperature, the patient will need to take an antibiotic by mouth or injection. In case of difficulty breathing, he will have to see a doctor. ”