How does draining standing water reduce the incidence of malar...

Question

How does draining standing water reduce the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya?

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone. And welcome back. Our next question says, what is the most effective way to stop the propagation of insect vectors that cause Dengue, malaria and zika. A stringent use of DD TB, clearing forested areas, c fumigation of high risk areas or d proper drainage of standing water. Well, first we need to recall which insect vector it is that causes these since different insect vectors will have different ways of controlling them. In the case of Dengue, malaria and zika, these are all mosquito borne illness or illnesses. So we need to think about the most effective way to stop the propagation of mosquitoes. Well, one thing to note is that most of these illnesses are most prevalent in urban areas where humans live closely together. So when we look at our answer, choices, choice b clearing forested areas, aside from any issues that might arise from just clearing out forested areas wouldn't affect the urban areas where the majority of victims live. So definitely not going to be the most effective way. Let's look at our other answer. Choices. Choice. A stringent use of DVT. Well, DVT is an insecticide that is very effective at killing mosquitoes. And in fact, in the past was an effective way to reduce the incidence of mosquito borne illness. However, it was found that it and related chemicals persist for a really long time in the environment and animal tissues, you remember, may remember from reading in history or science class, a famous book was written called Silent Spring, specifically dealing with its deleterious effects on bird populations. Um but as a result due to this environmental damage, the United States banned the use of DDT in 1972. It's really rather a tragic story as DDT is so effective but was found to have such bad environmental consequences, but definitely not the most effective way or a possible way at this point of stopping the propagation of insect vectors and choice. C says fumigation of high risk areas. Well, fumigation would um kill the adult mosquito population. However, mosquitoes start out their lives, laying eggs in the water and living as larvae in the water. So you might kill off the adults but you won't affect the larvae. So you still got this reservoir of mosquito population ready to mature and grow even after fumigation. So not the most effective way. Finally, we have choice d just by elimination, we know this must be our answer, proper drainage of standing water. And indeed this is the most effective, as we mentioned, mosquitoes lay eggs and then go through their larval stage and water if you have no standing water, there's no place for them to lay their eggs and you end the life cycle of the mosquito. So that deals with both the larval stage and the adult stage. So our most effective way to stop the propagation of insect vectors that cause dengue malaria and Zika is choice d proper drainage of the standing water. This is actually a little bit tricky since this, these mosquitoes are very prevalent urban areas. And so you've got a lot of places where water can build up. So think of things like water storage tanks, even things like piles of leaves, old tires anywhere where you have a container that can hold water, especially because many tropical areas have so much rainfall. You have rain, it collects in little puddles. You've got ideal breeding places, so easier said than done, but that's still our most effective route. See you in the next video.

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How does draining standing water reduce the incidence of malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya?

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