Ministry Reassures Over Cockroach, Rat Warnings

[george]

Ministry reassures over cockroach, rat warnings

BANGKOK: -- The Department of Disease Control yesterday stressed that warnings of cockroach and rat infestations in Thailand's southern Andaman provinces hit by the December tsunami were merely warnings and did not indicate that plagues of the pests had already appeared.

Veterinary surgeon Dr. Plaiyong Sakaraseranee said that the warnings had been issued in the light of a cholera epidemic spread by rats a year after an earthquake hit India in 1993.

Noting that the December tsunami had caused changes to the ecosystems of the six Andaman provinces affected, including Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun, Dr. Plaiyong said that this inevitably altered the behaviour of cockroaches and rats, and that population explosions of either could cause outbreaks of disease.

But he stressed that members of the public should not panic, saying that Andaman residents should only be extra vigilant in keeping their houses clean and disposing of refuse correctly.

--TNA 2005-04-21