Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Nina Kurucz Director Medical Entomology, Centre for Disease Control about about mossie numbers about to climb in the Top End

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Katie spoke with Nina Kurucz Director Medical Entomology, Centre for Disease Control about about mossie numbers about to climb in the Top End · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is Nina Currency, director of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Medical entomology at the Center for Disease Control. Good morning to.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: You, Nina, Yeah, good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Nina. We're being told that mossies are expected to be
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  Speaker 1: pretty bad from Monday. Events that could occur due to
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  Speaker 1: weather this time of the year do make it perfect conditions,
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  Speaker 1: of course, for mossi numbers to rise. Tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more about what to expect.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, obviously we had very high tides and quite
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  Speaker 2: a bit of rain, so that means all the Salt
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  Speaker 2: Marsh mosquito eggs are now inundated with water and they
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  Speaker 2: will all hatch at once. So we are expecting an
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  Speaker 2: influx of these mosquitoes hitting pretty much all along the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory coastline, also Darwin, Palmerston rural areas. From Monday onwards.
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  Speaker 2: There probably will be high numbers at least for the
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  Speaker 2: next three weeks because of the humidity, they live long enough,
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  Speaker 2: and unfortunately that also means that they're now able because
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  Speaker 2: they've got enough time to pick up the Ross River
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  Speaker 2: virus and potentially transmitted to people. So the high risk
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  Speaker 2: period for Ross River is pretty much from December through
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  Speaker 2: to March, and this is why we are urging people
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  Speaker 2: to make sure not getting bitten by mosquitos, use thee
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  Speaker 2: insect repellents and cover up with long sleeves and shirts,
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  Speaker 2: and make sure that your kids when they're outside are
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  Speaker 2: also adequately protected.
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  Speaker 1: Nina, are there any suburbs which are going to be
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  Speaker 1: more heavily impacted?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, of any that are close to Salt marsh areas,
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  Speaker 2: So we've got Leanya, Karama, all of those. Anything close
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  Speaker 2: to the Casarina Coastal Reserve as well. But the department
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  Speaker 2: has done extensive surveillance and control in those swamp areas
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  Speaker 2: as well as in Darwin Urban itself and we have
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  Speaker 2: treated close to two hundred and twenty five hectors of
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  Speaker 2: high density breeding. But we know there's very large swamps
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  Speaker 2: to the east of that area and these mosquitos can
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  Speaker 2: fly up to fifty kilometers, so they will make their
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  Speaker 2: way into Darwin suburbs and to all rural areas Palmerston
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  Speaker 2: and along the coastline of course.
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  Speaker 1: And Nina, what do we need to do to try
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  Speaker 1: to protect ourselves?
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  Speaker 2: So the best way is because these mosquitos, unfortunately by
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  Speaker 2: day and night and they're pretty aggressive so the best
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  Speaker 2: way is to use the insect repellent that contain deeed
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  Speaker 2: o picarrodin. There's now an alternative around with oil of
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  Speaker 2: lemon ucalyid also known as PMD that can be used.
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  Speaker 2: And then just light colored long sleeved shirts, long pants
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  Speaker 2: and socks, even though we all know it's hot, and yeah,
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  Speaker 2: try to stay inside if it's really bad and if
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  Speaker 2: you can, but as I said, there out day and night.
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  Speaker 2: But if you use those precautions, that's probably your best protection.
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  Speaker 2: And then there is mosquito lentns around you can buy
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  Speaker 2: in any heart ware stores on normal supermarkets and they
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  Speaker 2: also help a lot.
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  Speaker 1: And Nina, I know that this is all obviously expected
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  Speaker 1: from Monday, the increased number. How long are we expecting
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  Speaker 1: it to last?
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  Speaker 2: So pretty much we are predicting for the next three weeks. However,
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  Speaker 2: if the weather is getting drier again and some of
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  Speaker 2: these areas are drying out, then these mosquitos can lay
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  Speaker 2: a lot of eggs again and then after the next
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  Speaker 2: rain they will hatch again. So it really depends. If
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  Speaker 2: it keeps raining, it should only be two to three weeks,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, otherwise this can reoccur and then obviously after
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  Speaker 2: the first heavy mo monzoo, these mosquitos decrease in numbers.
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  Speaker 2: But then you've got the common band of mosquitos that
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  Speaker 2: are coming up, the freshwater breeders. They break continuously and
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  Speaker 2: they also can transmit the Ross River virus as well
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  Speaker 2: as Murray Valley encephalitis, which can be fatal. Yeah, but
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  Speaker 2: those mosquitoes are active at night, so at the moment
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  Speaker 2: they will be day and night. The other ones will
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  Speaker 2: be at night. But having the opportunity, we would also
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  Speaker 2: like to ask people to go into that backyard after
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  Speaker 2: all this rain now and tip out everything that can
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  Speaker 2: hold water and store it upside down out of the weather.
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  Speaker 2: And that is because there's another mosquito that breeds close
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  Speaker 2: to houses and that can also transmit ross through a
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  Speaker 2: virus right into the backyard and chip out everything that
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  Speaker 2: holds water.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Nina, I tell you what, I'm always hoping for
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  Speaker 1: the monsoon to arrive early, but I'm certainly hoping for
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  Speaker 1: it now as well. After hearing that there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be those increased Massie numbers and that year, if that
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  Speaker 1: wet weather sticks around, it will sort of help to
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  Speaker 1: keep those numbers down by the sounds of it after
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  Speaker 1: this first lot, but really good advice as well in
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  Speaker 1: terms of making sure that we tip out all that
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  Speaker 1: water and just do all that we can to protect
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  Speaker 1: ourselves from those pesky mossies.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and we also do have a salt marsh mosquito
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  Speaker 2: past on our website and that tells people when high
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  Speaker 2: numbers are expected. Also for twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: Two, Well, Nina Kurtz, the director of Medical Entomology at
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  Speaker 1: the Center for Disease Control. We always appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having your chat this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,