This week, the State Department of Health of Minas Gerais (SES-MG) released the results of the third Rapid Index Survey for Aedes aegypti (LirAa/LIA) of 2023. The research was carried out in municipalities in Minas Gerais between the 7th and 25th of August, as part of the strategy to monitor and control the mosquito that transmits the viruses that cause dengue, chikungunya and zika.
According to data sent to SES-MG by 798 municipalities in Minas Gerais, 648 of them presented the Building Infestation Index by Aedes Aegypti (IIP) equal to or less than 0.9 and, therefore, received a satisfactory classification, indicating a low risk of arbovirus transmission. There are 144 municipalities on alert and six remain at risk, with IIP greater than 4.0.
Although State Surveillance does not only consider the survey of Aedes infestation to assess the epidemiological situation of arboviruses, the data presented by LirAa can be considered as a warning indicator for places with a greater possibility of registering cases.
The Undersecretary of Health Surveillance at SES-MG, Eduardo Prosdocimi, alerts the population to the importance of the care that each citizen must take in combating the disease-causing agent. “Today we are publishing the third Rapid Survey of Aedes aegypti Indexes for 2023, in which we can evaluate the types of locations and containers in which we find breeding sites for dengue, chikungunya and zika. The fight against mosquitoes is only possible with the support of society, so avoid leaving containers with standing water and collaborate, so that, together, we can fight Aedes,” he said.
INFESTATION IN CONTAINERS
LirAa also makes it possible to identify which containers the mosquito is breeding in, using the Container Type Index (ITR), which indicates the percentage of each reservoir where Aedes larvae were found.
According to the results of the third survey in 2023, the most frequently infested containers in Minas were mobile deposits such as vases or jars, plant plates, drinking fountains, materials in construction warehouses, among others, totaling 39.2%. In second place were the deposits used to store water for human consumption at ground level, such as barrels, drums, barrels, filters, etc. with 22.9%. Fixed deposits, such as tanks on construction sites, tire repair shops or vegetable gardens, gutters, slabs, toilets, swimming pools or drains, appeared in third place in the ranking, with 17.3%.
Garbage, scrap, debris and tires and other rolling materials represented 10.1% and 5.2%, respectively. The least infested types of containers were elevated water deposits (water tank, drum, masonry deposits, etc.), with 3.5%, and natural deposits (bromeliads, tree and rock hollows, etc.) representing just 1.8%.
