Press Releases

Vector surveillance to step up as high season of dengue fever approaches

The Anti-mosquito Steering Committee (AMSC) today (February 13) endorsed an enhanced programme of vector surveillance to provide timely intelligence for all sectors of the community to monitor the effectiveness of their mosquito control measures and make adjustments as necessary.

The programme would also help gauge periodically the risk of mosquito bites in different localities within the territory.

The steering committee met this morning to review its vector control strategies, assess results of vector control work as well as fine-tune existing programmes to tackle the mosquito problem in the upcoming high-risk season of dengue fever.

The AMSC was formed last October following a spate of local cases of dengue fever that sparked off considerable concerns in the community. The steering committee is chaired by the Permanent Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Mrs Carrie Yau Tsang Ka-lai, and draws its membership from various concerned bureaux and government departments.

On the enhanced vector surveillance programme, a spokesman for the AMSC said the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) would announce the details of 38 Area Ovitrap Indices (AOI) and a Monthly Ovitrap Index (MOI) before end February.

The spokesman explained that the AOI would indicate the extensiveness of distribution of Aedes Albopictus in the surveyed localities while MOI would be the average of all AOIs for the same month.

On top of the monthly publication of AOIs and MOI, the AMSC saw the need to go a step further to assess the severity of mosquito breeding at higher levels and inside flats.

In this connection, FEHD would pilot an ovitrap study covering upper floors of high-rise buildings in mid 2003. The findings of this pilot study will shed light on how best to prevent mosquito bites inside homes.

On disease surveillance, the Department of Health (DH) would continue to monitor local and imported cases of dengue fever via a statutory notification system and reports from the Hospital Authority.

Public hospitals had been reminded to send specimens to the Public Health Laboratory Centre for rapid diagnostic and confirmatory tests. The DH would continue to promptly investigate each reported case of dengue fever through home visits and epidemiological surveys around patient's residence and workplace.

The spokesman stressed that territory-wide publicity would be important for maintaining a high level of public awareness of the risks of dengue fever and measures to prevent mosquito bites.

He noted the steering committee had endorsed a rich programme of publicity items to be launched throughout this year. New TV/radio announcements of public interest have been aired since last December and more will come on stream in the next few months.

The spokesman noted community participation was the key to success in reducing the chance of an outbreak of dengue fever.

"The steering committee is glad to learn of the encouraging progress made by the Working Group on Community Involvement in Mosquito Control chaired by the Director of Home Affairs.

"Over the past few months, the Working Group made tremendous efforts to engage District Councils and other district organisations in the territory-wide anti-mosquito exercise," he said.

Over 100 promotional activities including seminars, roving exhibitions and distribution of PR materials involving resident associations and estate management companies had been held under the auspices of the 18 District Councils and Clean Hong Kong District Committees in the past few months. In addition, over 500 clearance operations and inspections at district hygiene blackspots and grass-cutting at rural areas had been conducted.

The spokesman said the AMSC was conscious of the need to borrow international experience and expertise in combating dengue fever and to stay in tune with international best practices.

He noted both DH and FEHD had been communicating with overseas health and entomological experts with a view to improving our surveillance and control measures in place.

A World Health Organisation entomologist visited Hong Kong late last year to study our preventive and control measures and to hold talks with local health professionals, relevant government departments and pest control companies.

"We will continue to interact with the international community to bring the best practices into Hong Kong. We are also following developments of overseas researches that harness innovative means to lower the risk of mosquito bites," he said.

Apart from the on-going vector control measures taken by DH and FEHD, other members of the AMSC had taken the initiative to set new operational targets for the coming spring and summer.

Some of these targets are as follows:-

*Lands Department will conduct grass-cutting and rubbish clearance on a total of around 600 identified black spots before this September/October, clear the sites of 20 identified hillside illegal cultivation black spots, and conduct grass-cutting and site clearance on new black spots;

*Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will step up efforts in removing flowerpots, containers and rubbish in all country parks in particular the ten parks most frequented by morning walkers;

*In consultation with District Councils and other district organisations, Home Affairs Department will organise more inspections and cleansing operations for rear lanes, rooftops, and other hygiene black spots to minimise potential mosquito breeding places in 18 districts;

*Housing Department will carry out weekly inspections to 155 estates and 66 construction sites under its charge to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds therein;

*Leisure and Cultural Services Department will deploy special cleansing teams to carry out anti-mosquito operations for some 60 venues twice every week, and regularly inspect the circulation systems of around 80 fountains and ponds to avoid accumulation of stagnant water;

*Highways Department will conduct by end 2003 another round of inspection, and where necessary additional inspections, of road drains, roadside slopes and highways to eliminate mosquito breeding places associated with these structures; and

*Educational and Manpower Bureau will continue to work with school authorities to ensure that the school environment is not conducive to mosquito breeding.

Major achievements made by various bureaux/departments in winter and highlights of their operational plans for coming spring/summer are at Annex.

With the approach of the wet season that normally spelled high risk for dengue fever, the spokesman again called on the community to join hands with government departments to fight the vector problem.

"We'd like to underline the importance of community involvement as a major pillar of our dengue fever prevention strategy. The full benefits of the package of governmental actions just outlined cannot be achieved unless there are concerted efforts from the community."

"The Government cannot fight dengue fever alone. We need the partnership, support and assistance of every sector of community to meet this all-important goal. Do continue to give us a helping hand in minimising the risk of dengue fever here," he said.

End/Thursday, February 13, 2003
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