The use of fine nets to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes on dry farmland in southern Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
The stagnate water stored in buckets traditionally used by farmers in southern Taiwan to irrigate their dry farmland, serves as favorable breeding ground for Aedes aegypti, the vector of the dengue virus. The public health bureau there distributed fine nets to the farmers to cover their buckets to reduce vector breeding sites. The goal of this study was to compare the container index (CI) in Alian and Tianliao Townships, Kaohsiung County in southern Taiwan over a 2-year period, for 1 year before the fine nets were distributed and 1 year after.


METHODS
In March 2005, we selected eight villages in Alian Township and 10 in Tianliao Township. Specialists monitored the local Stegomyia indices every month. We compared the 2005 CI to the 2004 CI, representing the years before and after the nets were used. The results of the comparisons were analyzed by paired t-test and Wilcoxon rank test.


RESULTS
In Alian Township, mean CI had significantly reduced to 1.63 levels (May 2005) from a mean 5.88 level in May 2004 (paired t-test, p=0.001 and Wilcoxon rank signed test, p=0.0012). In Tianliao Township, CI was reduced to 1.2 from 2.3 in May 2004 (p<0.0001 and p=0.007, paired t-test and Wilcoxon rank signed test, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The nets effectively reduced the CIs in these townships, and might be considered for wide scale use. The mosquito nets were generally welcomed by the farmers who found them to be convenient, inexpensive and practical.
Chuang
Hung-Yi
HY
The Health Bureau of Kaohsiung County Government, and School of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical University, No. 100 Shih-Chuan First Road, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. ericch@kmu.edu.tw
Huang
Joh-Jong
JJ
Huang
Ya-Chu
YC
Liu
Pi-Long
PL
Chiu
Yu-Wen
YW
Wang
Mei-Chi
MC
D000330:Aedes / Q000254:growth & development*; D000818:Animals; D003715:Dengue / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D013624:Taiwan; D014867:Water / Q000469:parasitology*
D014867:Water