Health officials in the north of Western Australia are urging people to protect themselves against mosquitoes following the deaths of two people as a result of a rare mosquito borne illness. In response, local authorities are stepping up mosquito mitigation efforts.
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00:00The WA Health Department has issued a warning to people here in the northwest after a number
00:07of cases of Murray Valley Encephalitis have been recorded and as you mentioned there sadly
00:12two people have died after contracting that illness.
00:16So Murray Valley Encephalitis, it is a rare mosquito-borne illness and while it does affect
00:23most people mildly who do contract it, about 1 in 800 people will develop a severe illness
00:30which can lead to a brain infection potentially triggering lifelong symptoms and in rare cases death.
00:36So far this year in WA there have been four cases recorded of Murray Valley Encephalitis
00:42or MVE and the Health Department is warning that there is no vaccine or specific treatment
00:47for this illness so they are urging everyone here in the north to take precautions and
00:52that involves wearing long sleeve, loose protective clothing, applying mozzie repellent
00:58including repellent that contains DEET and also managing vegetation on properties as
01:04that is areas where mosquitoes do breed and where they do come from.
01:08Now it is peak tourism season here in the northwest so there are lots of people on the
01:13roads travelling and camping and so that advice has also gone out to them and it's being said
01:18to check your camping equipment, check your caravans, they may have holes or gaps where
01:23mosquitoes could come in, could be in your areas so it is really important to be checking
01:28those before you do hit the road.
01:31As you can see behind me we've got a lot of coastal areas, mangroves here in the northwest.
01:35Now those are hotbeds for mosquitoes, it's where they lay their eggs, it's where they
01:39do come from before they go further inland.
01:42So the message is there, if you are on the coast, if you do live there, there are a lot
01:45of camping spots here on the coast and it is the message to be extra careful in those
01:50areas.
01:52We've heard from the town of Port Hedland which is about 1600km north of Perth and they're
01:57currently escalating their mitigation efforts, they're largely focused on destroying eggs
02:02and lava in the local wetlands there.
02:06They've recently employed the use of drone technology to attempt to manage this issue
02:11so that's using a drone to spread chemicals throughout those wetlands that prevents mosquitoes.
02:18So they're now able to address up to 15 hectares per day with those drones and that's up from
02:24about 4-5 hectares a day using on foot methods.
02:29A lot of people up here also concerned with when those shires are going to begin the practice
02:34of mosquito fogging for the year.
02:36Now that's using airborne insecticide in order to manage those adult mosquito numbers.
02:42So the shires are putting in a lot of work now in order to hopefully prevent more mosquito
02:47numbers, manage those populations and stem the spread of Murray Valley Encephalitis.