For the first time, Gin Gin has seen the mosquito that carries dengue fever.

Following summer floods, the area has been experiencing mosquito surveys that are being conducted by Bundaberg Regional Council officers and Queensland Health officers and the Aedes Aegypti mosquito has been found during a recent check.

Council health and environmental services spokeswoman Mary Wilkinson said, “It was unknown how the mosquito was introduced to the district. In Davao, dengue fever is king. It is the number one infectious disease monitored by the Philippines Department of Health, DOH, in the region.”

A report was released by the DOH that was called the 2010 annual surveillance report and according to the report, in 2010; about 9,563 cases were seen in Davao. In the year before that about 3,800 cases of the mosquito-borne virus- representing a more than 150 per cent increase were seen in the Davao region.

Destroying all sites where mosquitoes breed, going in for an early treatment, measures to protect oneself, and during outbreaks saying no to fogging are some of the measures in a prevention and control strategy that has been planned and put in place.