Boom to Buttercup residents worried about mosquito infestation

We know about home invasions, but now there is a mosquito invasion that is causing an uproar in neighboring communities. According to residents, with the number of dengue cases on the rise, there is growing fear that the recent surge may result in more illnesses. The Public Health Department says it has no resources to deal with the situation. News Five’s Duane Moody went to the villages for a first hand look at the situation.

Duane Moody, Reporting
The rainy season provides mosquitoes with a large breeding ground. Residents of the communities along Burrell Boom, Flowers Bank and as far as Buttercup are experiencing an unusual surge in the mosquito population.

Avalee Cassanova, Resident, Burrell Boom
“When dehn bite yoh, yoh skin burn yoh even.”

Duane Moody
“I know some people say that they leave bumps all over yoh.”

Avalee Cassanova
“Yes and dehn big and dehn black.”

Duane Moody
“This dah di first time unnu di see it like dis and so much?”

Avalee Cassanova
“First time. I gone back dah my ma and when I do so and I open my hand, dah like ten eena mi hand.”

Gerilyn Baptist, Resident, Burrell Boom
“Well we can’t cope with it no more. Back yah—whole day ‘til night; yoh have to shet up early. Light woodlice, fish and they still no go, too much mosquito. The whole inside of the house, dah lone mosquito.”

Some residents have already fallen ill and there is fear that many more will.

Octavia Lucairlo, Resident, Buttercup Community
“We need help in Buttercup, also in Boom areas and Scotland and everywhere because just recently my brother get sick with malaria and his daughter and I don’t want my children to get sick the same way. There are some big mosquitoes in Buttercup and we can’t take those flies.”

Avalee Cassanova
“Unnu have wah fear that malaria and dengue deh di go round, unu fear that unu might ketch it unu kids?”

Octavia Lucairlo
“Well we know that deh out bout weh yo wahn make we do? I just want people that do the spraying come in Boom and Buttercup areas come and spray round our areas because I can’t take it. In the evening there are big mosquitoes and in the evening there are big mosquitoes too.”

Duane Moody
“Are you guys doing anything to maybe prevent it, like contacting the authorities to come around and spray it?”

Gerilyn Baptist
“No nobody come round and spray. Me hear they di spray around the city, but dah the village they need to come and spray because too much mosquito deh.”

Senior Public Health Supervisor, Mark Bernard, says that the department does not have the resources to spray the area.

Mark Bernard, Senior Public Health Inspector, Central Region
“We have trucks that are currently spraying but unfortunately we are only spraying in the urban area. This is in Belize City. We are not spraying the rural areas at this time because we don’t have the resources necessary to do that.”

Bernard says that the mosquitoes primarily in those areas are nuisance mosquitoes and the department is not focusing on those at this time.

Mark Bernard
“There are two types of mosquitoes basically—those that can transmit diseases and those that are what you call nuisance mosquitoes. The nuisance mosquitoes as suggest can create a nuisance, they can cause skin rashes or skin infections because you scratch them or people react differently to it. Unfortunate those are not the ones we are targeting. We are more interested in the ones that transmit dengue and malaria.”

Duane Moody, reporting for News Five.

There are currently one hundred and twenty-three suspected cases of which forty-nine have been confirmed.