Mosquito surge expected in wake of early rain

| 22/03/2023 | 37 Comments
Cayman News Service
Aedes aegypti mosquito

(CNS): The Mosquito Research and Control Unit (MRCU) said it is expecting a significant emergence of the pests from Sunday evening resulting from early rain and high tides. Despite widescale residual larviciding treatment before the rain, the MRCU still expects a mosquito problem due to the extent of the flooding. 

“High tides combined with unseasonal rainfall have resulted in widespread flooding across Grand Cayman, and MRCU surveillance has identified high numbers of mosquito larvae developing in these flooded areas,” MRCU Director Dr Alan Wheeler said.

“We expect the mosquito numbers to remain high for most of next week while we work to control the problem. Residents are advised to avoid early evening outdoor activities while we work to bring the problem under control, he added.”


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Comments (37)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Like my grandfather used to say, “If they were any good, they wouldnt be here!”

  2. Anonymous says:

    Why are we not seeing the MRCU plane out and about?

  3. anonymous says:

    has anybody seen the mozzy plane going around? I haven’t – the management now is really negligent and to actually tell us all to expect mosquitoes just proves my point. 6 million – get that plane up now!

  4. Dred Baron says:

    C’mon. It’s 2023. By now MRCU should be operating a fleet of agricultural drones and conducting targeted drops of larvicide and pesticide over grid mapped breeding areas.

    Cayman does not have to be run like the Titanic.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Y’all wanted your “good ol days” back.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    MRCU is the one of the best funded mosquito control organizations in the world. GO FACT CHECK. What the public gets for their money nowadays is a barrage of instructions from MRCU, via the media, to buy OFF & stay indoors whenever it rains, or the tides are high. Really! The quick solution is for the CIG to bring Bill Petrie back from Miami to sort this dysfunctional sh*tshow out. ASAP

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Mosquito a bite me.

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  8. Blood Sucker says:

    what happened to the GM mosquitoes that they let out around the island a couple years ago so they can’t breed with other mosquitoes

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  9. Anonymous says:

    I’m shocked that this article isn’t getting more comments considering the following:

    1. This issue affects any warm blooded creature who goes outside after 6pm on all three islands.
    2. They’re is a dedicated government department that costs the country millions of dollars annually, whose sole purpose is to “control” mosquitoes.
    3. That department has been in existence since the 1960s.
    4. Over the past several years the effectiveness of this department seems to have decreased.

    Why is no one held accountable for this painful failure?

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    • Anonymous says:

      MRCU is one of the most productive departments of the CI Govt, and thank God for that. PPM drastically cut back their budget so they have made more with less ever since. Talk to your MP.

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    • Mumbichi says:

      I can only offer a guess; I think that many very important CIG pograms/departments are underfunded, and/or funding stuck at 2016, which is the same thing.

      I know that in the past on the Sister Islands, larvicide was available and used. In the past five years, it has been difficult to acquire, and thus many areas which collect standing water go untreated. Frequency of the larvicide dropping by plane have declined in the past years. I thought this was greatly effective, especially for those inaccessible areas.

      So, I ask you: Is this important enough that you would lobby your MP to make changes? Would that action do any good? To put more money into MRCU is to take money from other pograms. Which do we choose?

      I’m just guessing, again, but I suppose CIG would say that we need more cruise ships to pay for MRCU and the dump mitigation, and this and that and the other thing. If so, my answer would be “NO”. We are NOT a poor territory. We can and should do better than this.

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    • Hubert says:

      10:09, You must be new here. We don’t do accountability in the Cayman Islands.

  10. Anonymous says:

    There’s much less swampland than thirty years ago and then MRCU were effectively controlling the mosquito population. The climate is also much drier than thirty years ago. WTF happened, where is the progress MRCU?

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Whatever happened about the genetically engineered experiment that happened here some years ago? Wasn’t that supposed to assist in controlling mosquitoes? What was the outcome? If anything was published I must have missed it but it seems to me that the mosquito problem here has only become worse since then.

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    • Anonymous says:

      It was working but a few people who don’t understand GM species claimed they were bad and everyone freaked out before they could actually complete the study.

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    • Mumbichi says:

      The outcome was that Oxitec made beaucoup dollars, and made a study of us which allowed them to pose the same Franken-Mozzies to Florida.

      We were always a good place to experiment upon, given that we are geographically remote.

      Oh, you mean what was the outcome here, and did it work? Yeah, indeterminate, mate. Not a measurable difference. We’re all just glad that bad things didn’t happen as a result.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Not just Florida now expanded to California and 95% mosquito reduction in parts of Brazil. We missed out. Now go ask who put a stop to it!

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        • Anonymous says:

          And people are dropping like flies as well. If cancer – it is already stage 4. Neurological conditions nobody understands and treats.

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          • Anonymous says:

            What is your point? Forced vaccines were introduced at the same time, but that doesn’t mean there is a link.

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    • Guido Marsupio says:

      MRCU bought a larvicide pellet loader for Brac several years ago, so the plane would not have to go back to Grand every time it needed pellets. Seemed to work for a short while. What happened to that program? Have not seen a pellet drop in a LONG time.

  12. Anonymous says:

    ‘While you work to control the problem’? Even a five year old can tell you mosquitos are worse after rain. Does the director not know what MRCU stands for? Here is a clue. The ‘C’ is for control.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    Get rid of all that mangrove swamp and we won’t need to worry about mosquitoes. Shut down MRCU and save millions.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Many of the mosquitos aren’t from the swamps… they breed in people’s yards… in buckets, drums, old tires, discarded items, etc.

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      • Mumbichi says:

        It is both, really. We can make our own DIY mosquito traps. Google it. Any standing swamp/murky/”fresh” water is a potential mosquito farm. Yes, they mostly breed near their source of food (us!), but not always.

        I have been by the standing water ponds on Little, and been bitten to death.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Right, because filling thousands of acres of swamp land would only cost a couple dollars. Try again, use your brain next time.

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