Heavy rainfall and flooding in St. James have raised Dengue Fever concerns within the parish; residents are expressing fear, over what is fast developing into a potential crisis. However, officials say they are addressing the issue.

With the continuous rainfall in St. James in recent weeks, concerns have been raised about the prevalence of mosquito breeding sites. Parish Manager for the St. James Health Department, Lennox Wallace, says even though there is a cause for concern, the situation is being handled accordingly. Wallace noted that the Department has applied teams in the four health districts in the parish, to ensure that the areas that known to be dengue mosquito breeding sites are inspected.

He added that the Department has been doing a lot of source reduction and various methods of fogging to lessen the mosquitoes in these areas. Wallace is confident in his team’s efforts in preventing a dengue fever outbreak. He notes that persons out in the field are supervised by technical officers and the Department is seeing the results. And where garbage disposal is concerned he says there’s ongoing monitoring of proper disposal, aimed at preventing mosquito breeding.

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