SSM lists places of greater risk for mosquito transmitted diseases

A search on mosquito breeding sites in homes and in public spaces conducted by the Health Bureau (SSM) revealed that Tap Seac, Areia Preta and Fai Chi Kei areas are the places in the territory with a greater risk for mosquitos-borne diseases such as Dengue fever and Zika, the SSM informed in a statement released yesterday.
According to the data collected and a consequent study conducted and supported by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) which used three different indicators to measure the risk of spreading of Dengue Fever, the areas of the territory that showed a higher index result where topped by Tap Seac with a result of 3.1 percent on the Housing and Breteau indexes and 1.1 percent on Container Index.
House index (HI) measures the percentage of houses infested with larvae and/or pupae while Breteau index (BI) counts the number of positive results in containers per 100 houses inspected. As for the Container index (CI) it measures the percentage of water-holding containers infested with larvae or pupae.
The higher these indexes reach, the more likely the possibility of prevalence of Dengue Fever.
The results obtained allowed the SSM to conclude that the level of risk of spreading of Dengue Fever in local homes of Macau. The SSM also identified plant vases were a main source of mosquito proliferation within  houses.
The study which targeted 350 households and 45 buildings and condominiums, also focused on the buildings’ public spaces.
Similar results were found with Fai Chi Kei area reaching the highest index of Breteau with 3.8, followed by the Islands with 1.5.
Such figures present a low risk level for the spread of the related diseases. In terms of locations for larvae proliferation, the bases of flowerpots, the water tanks and buckets as well as the air conditioning systems and pavements that accumulate backwaters are the most common places for this to occur.