Local business, Drakes Traders Ltd has donated 40 In2Care Mosquito Traps to the Ministry of Education and Culture for installation in 18 of the Territory’s public schools.
The traps, which do not use pesticides, are on the market as a new vector control tool for the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit the Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya, and Yellow Fever diseases.
According to In2Care, the Aedes mosquito is difficult to control as it divides its eggs over various small and hard to find breeding sites and has become resistant to chemical insecticides. Product information explains that the mosquito trap is an innovative product that combines biological actives which have been safety tested, and low toxicity classified ingredients but which are highly effective at eliminating the Aedes mosquito.
The Ministry completed the placement of the traps within the grounds of schools in Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda and Anegada on April 15.
Minister for Education and Culture Hon. Myron Walwyn said “My ministry has been working quite closely with the Department of Environmental Health to put mitigation measures in place to prevent mosquito breeding in the schools and to reduce students’ exposure to mosquito bites.”
He added, “The donation from Drakes Traders Ltd, is timely and is welcomed, and we are grateful to the company for its outreach and exercise corporate responsibility in support of vector control in our school. The In2Care Mosquito Traps is an added value to our mitigation efforts.”
The In2Care trap is an easy-to-assemble kit which combines a durable and recycled polyethylene container with a floating gauze strip coated in a larvicidal powder. The bio-actives in the larvicide attract the female Aedes mosquitoes which are ready to lay eggs. The mosquito is contaminated with the larvicide which also kills all the mosquito larvae laid in the trap. The larvicide which is harmless to humans, animals and plants, is then carried by the mosquito to other breeding sites and kills all larvae there. It also kills exposed mosquitoes after 5-10 days. The gauze strip insert on the trap floater needs to be replaced every 4-6 weeks for optimal activity.
Drakes Traders Ltd is the authorised distributor of the In2Care Mosquito Traps in the BVI.
“We started selling the traps and refill sachets at the end of 2015 and to date, all local customers we have contacted have reported satisfactory results with a noticeable reduction in mosquitos within 2–3 weeks of installation of the trap,” said Christian Esser, managing director, Drakes Traders. “It seems to be an effective tool which we believe will help to protect the students and staff within the schools of our community.”
The recommended area-wide deployment is approximately 1 trap per 400 m2 (10 traps per acre) in high-risk areas with many mosquito breeding sources. Four traps have been placed in the Elmore Stoutt High School and two in each of the other public schools.
The traps were the subject of a successful field study conducted by the Insect Vector Control Division in Trinidad and were rolled out in Guyana in February 2016 by the nation’s Vector Control Unit.
More information on the trap can be found through https://www.drakestraders.com/in2care-mosquito-trap/
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