SUBANG JAYA, 28 Sept: The Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) released adult elephant mosquitoes or Toxorhynchites mosquitoes (Toxo) at the Sri Tanjung apartment in USJ 16 to reduce the Aedes mosquito population.
The Aedes Breeding Control and Prevention of Dengue programme is being carried out in collaboration with the University of Science, Malaysia (USM) and CIMB bank, which allocated RM60,000 for the success of the programme.
The President of MPSJ, Datuk Asmawi Kasbi, said that the apartment is the second location after Kampung Sri Aman following findings that the population of Aedes mosquitoes were high at around 500 to 700 larvae per month.
He said, discussions between MPSJ and USM regarding the choice of the new site was held in May after a pre-study was conducted in around June.
“The habitat for Toxo mosquitoes is suitable because the apartment area has lush plants that produce nectar to encourage the breeding of Toxo mosquitoes.
“Hopefully, it will have a positive impact in the next five to six months,” he said in a press conference after the launching of the programme today.
Asmawi advised the people to maintain cleanliness and work together to preserve the greenery at the apartment to encourage the breeding of Toxo mosquitoes.
He said, the MPSJ Department of Health wants to expand the mosquito release programme to other areas to prevent the dengue epidemic.
“We are the first local authority to use biological methods of prevention to prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes without the need to use chemicals,” he said.
