Rain brings mosquitoes that carry diseases.
ORANJESTAD – Aruba has had a lot of rain in recent weeks. As Arubans know, rain can be a blessing, but it also poses health risks when water stagnates and becomes unclean.
The Aedes aegypti, the white-legged mosquito, can transmit various diseases, such as dengue fever. This disease can cause serious symptoms, including fever, headache, and muscle and bone pain, and can even be fatal in some cases.
When rainwater or other water stagnates, it creates an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes to lay eggs and breed. The more stagnant water there is around a house, the more mosquitoes will bother residents and neighbors. The more houses in a neighborhood have breeding grounds, the greater the mosquito problem and the higher the risk of transmitting dengue, Zika, or chikungunya.
Staff from the Yellow Fever and Mosquito Control Department (GKMB) of the Public Health Service (DVG) visit various neighborhoods daily. They go door-to-door to provide information and help residents identify and remove potential breeding grounds. This way, every citizen can contribute to reducing the number of mosquitoes around their own home and in the neighborhood. GKMB also visits public spaces and grounds to treat or remove stagnant water—potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
The source of the mosquito problem always lies in breeding grounds. The more breeding grounds, the more mosquitoes. Therefore, every citizen has a responsibility to actively help combat breeding grounds, starting in and around their own home and garden. GKMB only sprays in the event of an outbreak of a mosquito-borne disease, because spraying only kills the mosquitoes flying around. If breeding grounds are not removed, larvae will continue to grow in stagnant water, and the same problem will quickly return. For more information, like our Facebook page, Public Health Directorate DVG Aruba; follow us on Instagram; visit our website, www.dvg.aw; call 522-4200; or email service@dvg.aw.
