Alligator Pond residents fearful of dengue
Following the numerous dengue-related deaths locally, residents of Alligator Pond, Manchester, are gravely concerned about a potential dengue outbreak in their community. The recent islandwide rainfall has exposed the community to increased mosquito breeding.
Carla Heath told THE CENTRAL STAR that the community is suffering from an alarming and unhealthy mosquito issue that needs to be rectified immediately..
“A day time inside a me shop, me a fi light destroyer. Right through the day, night and day, straight through. If you even spray the house, I don’t even know how the mosquito dem get back in but dem get in. Dem terrible same way and dem bite a lot.”
She says the community would usually have mosquitoes only in the evenings, and would lock up their houses at certain times to avoid them.
“Now, mosquito nuh stop bite. The minute me step inside a mi shop me a fi light destroyer. Me live here from 2003 and a di fus me a see dis. Me have the fan on, and me still a fi a light destroyer.”
Heath blames the nearby pond from which the community got its name for the huge mosquito population. In the past, young men in the community would team up and find ways to get the water from the pond to run off. No such efforts have been made recently, and, as a result, the dirty pond water is left stagnant, becoming a mosquito-breeding site.
Romaine Watson is fearful that his sevenmonth-old daughter will catch the dengue fever if something is not done soon. He said that fogging was done recently, but that did not help the situation.
“A di dengue thing me a fret bout every day, enuh because me have my young baby wid me. A since the rain start fall all a dis a happen. The mosquito dem vicious. Yuh see when the pond run dung, a dem time deh di mosquito dem a go run out too,” he said with a concerned look.
– R.L.