Controlling Dengue Fever Outbreak: Effective Ways to Prevent Mosquito-Borne Diseases

By

SISKA LAWRENCE PHEBE

(Student of Duta Wacana University)

DISEASE Dengue fever is a problem that is often experienced by all groups of people without exception. Dengue fever is caused by an infection with the dengue virus which is transmitted through the bite of a vector animal in the form of a type of mosquito Temples of the Egyptians.

According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) for North Maluku Province, there were 137 cases of DHF in North Halmahera Regency in 2020.

When compared to the previous year, namely 2017 with 1 case and 2018 with 80 cases, it was concluded that there was a spike in cases in 2020.

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The warning that DHF cannot be taken lightly, is the high rainfall and unsterile environmental conditions which are favorite places for mosquitoes to breed.

Lack of knowledge about the dangers of vector-borne animal-borne diseases has led to a spike in vector-borne diseases. What’s more, the lack of information and public awareness of small things such as sorting garbage and not throwing it away has caused an increase in the mosquito population.

Efforts from the government or local stakeholders alone are not sufficient in dealing with DHF cases. It takes the intervention of the local community to want to work together in dealing with the problem.

Efforts and actions to control mosquito vectors have been carried out by the Regional Government through the Health Office such as distributing mosquito nets to spraying (fogging) areas with high qualifications for mosquito breeding.

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However, this needs to be considered because the chemicals contained in mosquito nets and also in fogging can cause mosquitoes to become resistant so that it will be difficult to break the chain of dengue transmission.

However, these efforts are not enough to overcome this problem, so a method is needed to control mosquito larvae such as the use of larvicides but the use of biolarvicidal control media that utilizes plants that have the potential to control mosquito larvae.

In addition, the Government through related agencies can be active in the field of biotechnology by utilizing related microorganisms to control viruses in mosquitoes, which are called symbiotic control who moves in the field of biotechnology.

Also Read: Is There an Effective Remedy for DHF in North Halmahera?

This technique utilizes Wolbachia bacteria, where the role of this bacteria is to neutralize mosquitoes that have dengue virus so that when a female mosquito that has dengue virus bites a healthy human, the human will not be infected with DHF.

This research was carried out by transferring Wolbachia bacteria into the bodies of male mosquitoes so that when they are released into the environment and mating occurs between male and female mosquitoes that have the dengue virus, the Wolbachia bacteria will automatically be transferred to the body of female mosquitoes through the mating process, so that when the female mosquitoes lay eggs therefore the eggs and young mosquitoes cannot transmit dengue anymore because of the ability of the Wolbachia bacteria to control and suppress the dengue virus in mosquitoes.

Several studies have been carried out on this bacterium so there is no need to worry about the side effects caused because it has been confirmed that the Wolbachia bacterium is safe and has been used in several continents such as America to Australia to Asia, namely Indonesia itself, which until now continues to be developed to break the chain of transmission. mosquitoes that cause dengue fever.