House owners to blame for dengue

NST: KUALA LUMPUR, Mon : House owners, not developers, are the biggest culprits responsible for creating mosquito-breeding grounds.
In the past six months, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) health directorate has issued more than 300 compounds amounting to about RM31,000 in fines to offenders.
"Almost 90 per cent of the compounds were issued to house owners and only a handful of the offenders were developers," said MPSJ president Adnan Md Ikhsan at the launch of the Ridsect anti-dengue campaign in Seri Kembangan yesterday.
Also present were Seri Kembangan state assemblyman Datuk Liew Kuen Yeong, Sara Lee Malaysia and Singapore president Shashank Sinha and MPSJ health director Dr Abdul Rahim Ahmad.
Adnan said home owners were fined RM100 for each mosquito breeding ground detected on their premises.
Developers and contractors can be fined RM500 for each mosquito breeding ground found at construction sites.
The Aedes mosquito is the carrier of the dengue virus.
In the first week of this year, Adnan said 159 suspected dengue cases were recorded in areas under MPSJ and 95 of them tested positive for dengue.
"Last week, we only recorded 19 suspected dengue cases, with 11 of them confirmed positive.
"Many measures are being taken to check the spread of dengue including cleaning-up exercises and fogging," he said.
Earlier, Liew urged Seri Kembangan residents to work together to curb dengue.
"We hope Seri Kembangan can achieve zero dengue status by the end of the year with the help and commitment of the residents."
Sara Lee, the marketer of Ridsect, has trained five Ridsect rangers in Seri Kembangan who are volunteer anti-dengue leaders in their communities.
The rangers were given information on the dengue virus and its dangers. They were also given training to help them spot potential mosquito breeding grounds, use pesticide products effectively and conduct gotong-royong activities.
Under the Ridsect anti-dengue campaign, more than 500 homes in five neighbourhoods, including Taman Serdang Jaya and Taman Universiti Indah, will be inspected and judged based on their cleanliness and their adherence to zero tolerance of the dengue threat.
The cleanest neighbourhood will receive RM4,000, the second-placed winner will get RM2,000, third-placed winner will bag RM1,000 and the fourth and fifth-placed winners RM500 each.
According to the World Health Organisation, some 50 million dengue cases are recorded worldwide each year.