CONTROL of the Zika virus which is currently prevalent in countries of the Caribbean is set to be targeted by Guyana’s Vector Control Unit (VCU).According to head of the VCU, Dr. Reyaud Rahaman during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, they will be increasing their efforts to prevent the Zika virus from becoming an epidemic in Guyana.

However, “because the rain is falling so much it is not safe for us to conduct our fogging exercises, that is why we haven’t started it yet because we had intentions of starting it since the start of June and even more,” said the VCU head.
“Technically we don’t want to put the population under risk by putting chemicals into the atmosphere and causing persons any harm,[we] have to be safe in what we’re doing,” he said.
In the meantime, he disclosed that they have sent out more staff to different high- density populations around the city.
Additionally, “this initiative is set aside by our resident entomologist, Mr. Vibert Stroom, as he has designated areas where the staffers should work.”
So far they have been looking for breeding sites of mosquitoes and sensitizing the public on what they should look out for, in terms of diseases.
Dr. Rahaman disclosed that as soon as the weather improves, fogging exercises around the country will commence and there will be a move to a new level from routine activities,to a more holistic approach to tackling vector- borne diseases.