Dengue fever found in NT mosquitos

The Northern Territory’s Communicable Disease Centre says an infestation of a mosquito that can carry dengue fever has been in Tennant Creek since the start of the rains in the Top End.

The Northern Territory’s Communicable Disease Centre says an infestation of a mosquito that can carry dengue fever has been in Tennant Creek since the start of the rains in the Top End.The centre’s medical entomologist, Peter Whelan, says a survey of Tennant Creek has found the Aedes aegypti mosquito breeding in 44 locations. Mr Whelan says the insect may have been brought in as eggs in a receptacle from Queensland in the last year’s wet season. He says the extent of the infestation indicates the mosquito has been in the town since last December. Mr Whelan says the Northern Territory has been free of the mosquito since the late 1950s.He is urging people to stop the insect from breeding to prevent dengue fever outbreaks like those occurring in North Queensland.(Source: ABC Health News, March 2004)