Open Water Containers and Mosquitoes

The following cdc is written in regard to zika, mosquitoes, and standing water. I found it was helpful for background knowledge, but also for targeting sanitation problems and what systems could be built to distribute safe water. https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2016/03/zikaandwater/

  • Some of the most important points:
    • Open Containers with standing water need to be scrubbed at least weekly as mosquitoes’ larvae will attach to the sides of the dishes, they can survive without water around them for up to 8 months, and they will hatch in standing water and mature into a mosquito in the course of a week. As a result, just emptying the water will not stop the larvae from hatching and maturing and later infecting inhabitants with dengue, in the case of Yemen.
    • What papers mean by distribution of safe water:
      • If community-wide distribution systems are built, pluming systems, then it decreases the need to store water close to the home and around their homes. Thus decreasing the number of mosquitoes as water is not being stored near areas where people live.
    • Sanitation
      • When water is contaminated with organic matter it increase the amount of mosquito larvae and if it will increase. Sanitation depts. And wastewater treatment plants remove the organic waste, treating water with chlorine and other disinfectants which can decrease mosquito presence.
      • WASH protocol is critical to promote health.
  • https://www.cdc.gov/dengue/resources/vectorcontrolsheetdengue.pdf
  • Semi-helpful: