How to avoid dengue?

Amidst the concern for H1N1, there's another worry that plagued many of us in the country, which is dengue. Dengue fever should never be taken lightly, as it is one of the type of fever that cause death.

For the past couple of months, at least once a week the white Health Ministry or Rentokil van could be seen among the vicinity, they come to do the fogging. Just now while I was enjoying my time at the balcony, facebooking, while my son was playing with his toys there, suddenly the roar sounded once again. Haih, one could never enjoy one's leisure time for long, without being interrupted kan. Selalu camtu.


But it's a good thing that the management of our place arranged the fogging practice very often, as there are quite a number of ponds and pools around the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure amidst the cleaning works done by the cleaners everyday, they still provide ample space for aedes mosquitoes to breed if proper steps are not taken to prevent it.

One thing we must remember, there is no cure for dengue. As the dengue season is here, we must take extra care to get rid of stagnant water that would provide space for the mosquito to breed in.

I would like to share some tips I got on the web that can help you steer clear of dengue:

1. Water from flower pots should be changed at least once a week
2. All containers storing water should be covered with a tight lid
3. Water stored in barrels, drums etc should be replaced by fresh stock (at least) once a week
4. All large water tanks, like those in buildings, should have single piece cast iron, tight fitting cover. A suitable ladder should be provided to enable civic staff to climb and examine the tanks at frequent intervals. The overflow pipe should be protected by a net that can keep away mosquitoes.
5. Discarded container-like objects like tyres, coconut shells, bottles, etc should be disposed off or destroyed.
6. Water fountains should be kept dry once a week
7. Surface wells should be well-maintained so that mosquitoes do not breed in the vicinity
8. Rain water collected on terraces/roofs should be cleared (at least) once a week

(source : http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/10deng.htm)

Let's put in a little bit of work everyday so we could stay healthy!