Mosquitoes are one of the most bothersome creatures that come with Singapore’s tropical weather. Regardless of how good or sunny the weather is, these creatures will ruin the comforts of the outdoors and keep you confined to your home. Rather than letting these pesky insects impose on your day-to-day life, you should be proactive and minimise the number of mosquito breeding sites in and around your home.
This is a clear indicator that you and your family should remain vigilant towards mosquito infestation in and around your house. Here are the four places in your home where mosquitoes can breed.
Pots and plants
There’s no doubt that adding some potted plants to your home can give it a fresh look and provide constant air purification, be it inside or outside your house. However, the water that trickles down the pot and collects in the trays, whenever you water them, can be a mosquito breeding site, especially if you don’t clean them often.
Pet water bowls
Like humans, our pets also need water to hydrate themselves over time, so you prepare a water bowl for them to drink from. Since mosquitoes thrive in stagnant water, you will need to change the water every day.
Bathrooms and toilets
Considered as one of the wettest areas in the house, your bathrooms and toilets can also be a mosquito breeding site if you’re not careful. This is due to the availability of stagnant water, added with constant moisture, making it the ideal environment for mosquitoes to reproduce.
Gutters
These are necessary for disposing excess, dirty water from your home and its surroundings. However, when the gutters are clogged with leaves and other debris, they provide the perfect environment for mosquitoes to breed, especially if the clutter isn’t removed regularly.
If any of these places are not cleaned regularly, the possibility of a mosquito infestation remains high. As a result, you may have to suffer the consequences of it – constant mosquito bites and dengue fever.
How can dengue spread inside the house?
There are several ways that the dengue virus can spread within your house – mosquito-to-human transmission, human-to-mosquito transmission, and maternal transmission.
The first and second modes of transmission are quite similar as female mosquitoes, especially the Aedes aegypti mosquito, tend to bite humans for blood. This makes them a vector for this virus. Once female mosquitoes are infected with the dengue virus, they are capable of transmitting the virus for the rest of their lives.
This means that if you were bitten by an infected mosquito, you will likely develop the symptoms of dengue within several days. Similarly, if you infect a mosquito, the infection cycle continues until the mosquito dies.
What are the symptoms and dangers of dengue?
Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that is often transmitted by infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes when they bite on humans for blood. Once the virus replicates itself in the mosquito’s midgut, it is capable of transmitting the virus for the rest of its life.
Often affecting infants, young children, and adults, dengue can cause a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from subclinical disease to severe flu-like symptoms. Among the symptoms that you should look out for include:
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Sudden onset of fever for two to seven days
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Severe headache with pain behind the eye
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Joint and muscle pain
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Skin rashes
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Nausea and vomiting
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Bleeding from the nose or gums
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Easy bruising of the skin
In severe cases of dengue, it can cause fatal complications due to plasma leakage, fluid accumulation, respiratory distress, severe bleeding, or organ impairment. Warning signs that doctors typically look out for include:
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Severe abdominal pain
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Persistent vomiting
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Rapid breathing
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Bleeding gums
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Fatigue
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Restlessness
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Blood in vomit
If any of your family members show symptoms suggestive of dengue, get them to see a medical practitioner immediately to prevent the onset of severe dengue.
How important is dengue prevention?
Based on NEA findings, the number of dengue cases is lower than 2020. The two, less common dengue serotypes – DENV-3 and DENV-4 – which the population has low immunity towards, making more people susceptible to the virus transmission.
Therefore, it is imperative that you take dengue prevention at home seriously to break the transmission cycle in and around your home. Here’s what you can do by practising the NEA’s Mozzie Wipeout steps:
- Break up hardened soil
- Lift and empty flowerpot plate
- Overturn pails and wipe their rims
- Change water in vases
- Keep roof gutters clear and place BTI insecticide
If you’re looking to keep mosquitoes out of your house, you may want to consider getting professional help from Pestbusters.
Our integrated pest management programme is designed to strike out and eliminate mosquitoes from homes and businesses. Some of the strategies and treatments we have to get rid of mosquito breeding grounds, include: larviciding, BTI (Bacillus Thuringiensis Israelensis) and misting.
For indoor purposes, we harness the use of BTI, a biological agent that is specially formulated to eliminate mosquito larvae within 2 to 24 hours. We’ll first spray the substance into stagnant waters where you found the larvae. Once the larvae ingest the agent via filter-feeding, their guts will be destroyed and die within a day.
Don’t wait too long to contact us as you may prolong the chance of mosquitoes breeding in and around your surroundings. Contact us at (+65) 6288 2828 or 24-hour response (+65) 9180 9990 or enquire online today to eradicate mosquitoes!