Mosquitoes menace Cedros, Icacos

A MOSQUITO invasion in Cedros and Icacos is making life so uncomfortable that classes at the Lochmaben Roman Catholic Primary School in Fullarton Village, Cedros were ended early and children told to go home.

Such is the extend of the mosquito menace that personnel from the Insect Vector Control Unit in Cedros have been hard-pressed to cope with spraying and fogging the areas affected.

Residents told Newsday the disease-carrying pests insects are attacking both man and beast during the day and night. Cedros councillor Shankar Teelucksingh described the situation as a “swarm blown in by the wind.” He claimed that most inland tributaries on the tip of the south-western peninsula have become mosquito breeding grounds.

There are large, clogged drains at abandoned estates, he added, with knee-high water pushed by rising tides and recent rainfall.

The councillor said that by sunset, residents in both villages lock themselves indoors. Mosquito coils and insect repellent seem to be no match, he said.

An official from the Insect Vector Control office located near the Cedros port, told Newsday their unit lacks equipment. “We do not even have telephones in this office here. You’ve contacted me on my personal cell-phone. Currently, we’re experiencing problems over lack of working equipment to conduct the kind of widespread spraying that is required here in Cedros and Icacos,” the official said.

Teelucksingh said many parents in Icacos Village have complained that their children’s skin was covered in rash after being bitten by the mosquitoes.

The councillor said he has been distributing hundreds of packs of mosquito coils to the affected residents. About 150 pupils attend the Lochmaben primary school.