While the Zika virus continues to spread throughout central and South America, one small town in Brazil has yet to see a single case.
The town of Água Branca located in Piauí effectively eliminated the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species of mosquitoes that transmit Zika, dengue, chikungunya and other viruses, in 2013. At the time, the town began a community program to combat the mosquitoes due to the increasing number of dengue fever cases. Before the program started, health officials carried out awareness campaigns to make sure that every one was educated about the initiative.
The initiative used a color-coded system to target mosquito hotspots. Houses that did not have signs of mosquito larvae received a green sticker. Houses that were considered to have the potential to become breeding ground for the mosquito received a yellow sticker. A main factor that contributes to mosquito growth is water accumulation. Lastly, houses with larvae were marked with red stickers.
The use of the stickers allowed health officials to pinpoint which households needed assistance the most. They also encouraged residents living in yellow or red sticker homes to work harder to eliminate their mosquito problem.
"Our objective, beyond combating mosquito hotspots in the city, was to engage and empower residents so that they could be the agents of change in this process,” Dóris Leal, Água Branca’s health surveillance coordinator, said. “With the two teams working together, we have a greater capacity to motivate the work and the people.”
Leal credits the joint efforts between the disease control officers and the Family Health Unit officers for being able to reach out to town residents and make them care about the strategy that was being put in place to protect their health.
Since the initiative, the town has only reported seven cases of dengue in 2015. No other mosquito-borne viruses have been reported.
The state governor reportedly wants to replicate the initiative in other towns.
Zika was declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its potential link to birth defect microcephaly and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Studies are currently being conducted to see if the virus is responsible for the recent spike in these two conditions.
