Backyard water tanks could promote dengue
Updated
In Australia's far north experts say there's a real risk of people dying as the Dengue Fever epidemic grows.
There've already been over 200 confirmed cases - and authorities are working around the clock to try to stop the spread of the mosquito-borne virus. But experts warn the resurgence of the backyard water tank could even see the deadly disease spread south to Sydney.
Presenter: Nicole Butler
Speakers: Dr Scott Ritchie, Medical Entomologist, Qld Dengue Control Programme; Tim Hurst, mosquito expert
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NICOLE BUTLER: Authorities say the dengue fever epidemic in far north Queensland is more severe than first thought, with around 20 new infections each day.
There's already around 200 confirmed cases in the tourist mecca Cairns, and around 20 further south in Townsville
Five years ago the virus claimed two lives in Australia, and Dr Scott Ritchie believes the current strain could be lethal.
SCOTT RITCHIE: Potentially so, we have had some quite ill people about one in five who have been hospitalised and there was one person who was, you know, in the intensive care unit for a few days. So it has been a quite nasty strain.
NICOLE BUTLER: The medical entomologist has headed the dengue control programme in Qld since 1994.
He's never seen the mosquito-borne virus spread as fast as it is now.
Nevertheless eradication efforts are also gaining pace, and Dr Ritchie believes the number of new cases in Cairns should start to drop soon.
SCOTT RITCHIE: We hope to finish controlling within one or two weeks. So I think what's going to happen is we're going to have transmission in a lot of areas around Cairns, but it won't be explosive. So it may go on for a while but the attack rate, the number of new cases coming in should start drawing back here within the next week or two.
NICOLE BUTLER: Dr Ritchie says a lot of people have water lying in containers around their yards.
He says they're the ones most likely to be infected by the dengue mosquito.
SCOTT RITCHIE: They breed in artificial containers like buckets, tires, birdbaths.
NICOLE BUTLER: Quite a few scientists are concerned by the return of the rainwater tanks to Australia's backyards.
Queensland researcher Tim Hurst warns residential water tanks are ideal breeding grounds for the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
He says dengue fever may have been confined to tropical parts of Australia for the past 70 years, but substandard tanks could see the insect again heading south.
TIM HURST: There's been various models that have predicted it could get to New South Wales.
NICOLE BUTLER: Dr Hurst believes the dengue mosquito's southern migration could happen over the next five to 10 years, as water tanks need repairs and owners become complacent.
TIM HURST: People might remove screens because they're sick of cleaning them out. There might be overflow so again they remove them. Things like this could lead to the degradations and there was some not so great companies out there that tanks weren't up to standard.
