Thai Public Health Ministry Launches Nationwide War On Mosquito-Breeding Grounds

[flarefade]

When I first started coming to Thailand about 8 years ago, there were always adverts on Television for those Mozzie machines that blow smoke (I think they use diesel don't they) and you use them in the garden etc. Since coming to live here for the last 5 years I have never seen the advert again. Does anyone have one? are they any good? if so where can I buy them?

Ubiquitous everywhere ... Burning of wood, plastics ... Etc. some theorise it is a cause of climactic change as well as smog.

[wayned]

Dr. Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai - tha'ts a hell of a long last name, i assume its looks shorter in Thai script

You think that's long, the full English translation for the Thai word for Bangkok contains 167 letters.

[canopy]

A lot of the mosquito problem is new to our generation believe it or not. In the 1980's, there was an epidemic of complaints in rural Thailand about how terrible the mosquitoes had become. This was coincidentally the same time water catchment jars you see everywhere today had become widespread thanks to the introduction of the ferrocement process. A study in Khon Kaen was performed and found mosquito larvae in 100% of the jars tested. That's right, every single one of them. Fast forward to today and nothing seems to have changed. Loose fitting lids are found on jars strewn around most houses. The people selling the jars do not offer tight fitting lids. Mosquitoes come out of them every day of the year. Hello?

[Colin Yai]

One of the prime consumers of Mosquito larva are fish , In a nearby lake they stocked it with 1 million Talapia fry ,within days all the Thai's descended with their ultra fine mesh nets spreading them over the entire lake ,after 2 months they had wiped them out , now there is barely a ripple on the water with signs of a rising fish , I informed both the local Khamnan and Pu Yai Bann of what was taking place, there answer of course was quite predictable ,take a wild stab in the dark and guess what it was?

[Colin Yai]

And what about all the fish, birds, bats, dragonflies and other animals that live on mosquitos as a staple diet?

-mel.

They'll all be dead from the insecticide used to kill the mosquitoes...

Hardly rocket Science is it!

[Bagwan]

On behalf of the ching chook population, I protest.

Maybe one of your loved ones will be next and you can dispose of the attitude. Or do you drink the bs you come up with?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I've come across some pretty dumb people here in LoS but you make the 'A' list. Your puerile response indicates that you should apply for a seat on Yingluck's of Chalerm's PR organisation. Maybe I should have appended one of these to my sarcastic post so that you got the point.

[ivan96822]

Get rid of the mosquitoes, for crying out loud.

[billbus12]

I travel to Thailand many times and try to control mosquito's bites I've haven't been very successful I would like some advice.

[ratcatcher]

as soon as I saw this image. I thought of this image

Both bloodsucking opportunists IMHO.

[cowslip]

Dengue fever must be eradicated. Have you people seen the long term effect on people. Wake up and let hem try to do their jobs. Bugger the mossie.

And what are the long term effects?

Methinks that the poster has his wires crossed - please elucidate - what are the "long-term" effects? ..... apart from Death, that is.

Edited May 15, 2012 by cowslip

[thaibeachlovers]

Well I for one will be happy with no mosquitoes.

But what will be the impact on the ecology. Will the destruction of some of the breeding areas add to flood problems if a flood should arise.

There is how ever a lot of little things people can do on their own premisses. That will lessen the problem a little bit.

Singapore had a huge blitz on mossies when i lived there in the 70s, but I don't know how successful it has been. I doubt Thailand would be able to be as disciplined as Singapore, so I think there is little threat to the mossies.

Everywhere I go, I see breeding places for them, and no official action is ever taken.

[Mosha]

Our local clinic has a large concrete pool in it's grounds. Full of water, and not a single fish in it. Is it Malaysia or Singapore where properties with anything holding water must have fish in, or they get a stiff fine.

[cowslip]

A lot of the mosquito problem is new to our generation believe it or not. In the 1980's, there was an epidemic of complaints in rural Thailand about how terrible the mosquitoes had become. This was coincidentally the same time water catchment jars you see everywhere today had become widespread thanks to the introduction of the ferrocement process. A study in Khon Kaen was performed and found mosquito larvae in 100% of the jars tested. That's right, every single one of them. Fast forward to today and nothing seems to have changed. Loose fitting lids are found on jars strewn around most houses. The people selling the jars do not offer tight fitting lids. Mosquitoes come out of them every day of the year. Hello?

Maybe - but I doubt there is any hard evidence for that. I suspect that there is no single cause.

I think another possibility is that in many areas human habitation has increased and the number of mozzie predators has reduced.

Edited May 16, 2012 by cowslip

[Sturbuc]

Giving "carte blanche" to pesticide manufactures will create a health problem many orders of magnitude greater than any threat from Mosquitos. People who are not used to living in the tropics will not fully appreciate this.

Well, please think and inform yourself BEFORE writing. This is NO pesticide; its just a kind of bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis)

which kills the mosquitos in an early stadium.

This is very common in my area too and helps very well. No Problems for the fish.

[cowslip]

Giving "carte blanche" to pesticide manufactures will create a health problem many orders of magnitude greater than any threat from Mosquitos. People who are not used to living in the tropics will not fully appreciate this.

Well, please think and inform yourself BEFORE writing. This is NO pesticide; its just a kind of bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis)

which kills the mosquitos in an early stadium.

This is very common in my area too and helps very well. No Problems for the fish.

"pesticide" is something that kills pasts - bacteria, chemical or otherwise.

THe problem with biological warfare on any species is that this often gets out of control with unpredicted consequences.

However as I indicated before, you can't simply remove an enormous biomass from the eco-system without consequences - the target is the diseases that some mosquitoes carry.....so it doesn't have to be the mozzies themselves.

[jerrysteve]

Rumor has it the Mosquito Breeding Grounds are in Parliament, but its only a rumor.

[jerrysteve]

Rumor has it the Mosquito Breeding Grounds are in Parliament, but its only a rumor.

[cowslip]

Rumor has it the Mosquito Breeding Grounds are in Parliament, but its only a rumor.

Have I missed something? or is this simply not funny?