Dengue, I hate it so much, I went down to the launch of the “Do the Mozzie Wipeout” Campaign for 2015.
In Bukit Gombak.
In the South West of Singapore.
With a coterie of press and ministers present.
On a Sunday morning,
After landing in Singapore from Seoul at 5am.
THAT is how much I hate dengue and the Aedes mosquito.
I found out that Singapore has seen fewer dengue cases in 2015. In the first quarter of 2015, there was 39% less dengue cases reported compared to the first quarter of 2014. But the NEA detected an increase of about 80% in the number of Aedes mosquito breeding habitats found in homes between February and March this year.
Oi, don’t liddat leh. We all like to think it is the work sites that are breeding mosquitoes but it seems that many of the breeding areas are found in homes. So please take the necessary preventative measures at home. Watch my last year Mozzie Wipeout video if you need a reminder.
Also interesting to learn at the launch was that NEA is now exploring the using of Wolbachia-carrying male Aedes mosquitoes to suppress the Aedes mosquito population in Singapore make the wild female Aedes mosquitos eggs unable to hatch. Wolbachia sounds like Chewbacca’s long lost brother hor? But it is a type of natural occurring bacteria found in 60% of insect species like butterflies, fruit flies, dragonflies and mosquitoes. The cool thing is that the Wolbachia-carrying male mosquitoes don’t bite or transmit disease (because they don’t need protein in blood to reproduce eggs), but when they mate with the female Aedes mosquitoes, the eggs laid by the ladies will not hatch into they make the ones that do spread dengue unable to make more evil babies that might spread dengue.
I think it is also nice that more education is happening at the community level. Students will be appointed “Dengue Mobsters” to be roving ambassadors, to go to homes and spread the word and help others fight the good fight against dengue. It may be the only time it is ok for a student to be in a gang. Go and whack those mosquitoes jialat jialat!
I also hear there will be residents appointed as Garden Sheriffs. They will be taught how to maintain make mosquito-free gardens.
I can’t wait for the Mosquito Stormtroopers Corps to be created next. I’d join that.
Residents in the South West CDC were also given demonstrations on how gross mosquitos look like in a transparent box and also given dengue fighter kits by Minister Grace Fu and Mayor Low Yen Ling.
As pointed out in an earlier FB post, I was captured on TV news at that event looking a little out of place and unglam. But hey, it was for a good cause, ok? Dengue must die.
