Emergency vector control in BAM, Iran

Abstract:
All disasters have an impact on the health sector, whether due to the need to protect the population’s health during emergency situations and disasters. Availability and quality of the health information are very important, because they form the basis for understanding the fundamentals of health policy. This investigation was a part of a joint mission with the I.R.I Ministry of Health was conducted for a rapid assessment of the outbreak risks of arthropod born diseases (ABD) after the Bam earthquake. Five types of control measures including thermal fogging, ULV spray (beginning from second week after disaster for flies control), residual spraying and larviciding (beginning 45 days after the disaster) and deltamethrin impregnated bednets (two months after disaster) due to unsuitable season (cold weather) for mosquitoes activity. There are no reports of any ABD outbreaks. Anthroponetic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) is known to be endemic in this area. Only the a few cases of ABD have been verified: 7 cases of malaria (3 Iranian and 4 Afghan), all of them import cases and 48 cases of ACL. All the roofed premises are sprayed in April using deltamethrin WP 5% at dosage of 25 mg/m2. The analysis of residue on Wattman papers installed on the various treated surfaces showed 18-82 mg/m2. Two thousand of bed nets and about 13000 educational pamphlets (addressing malaria and ACL prevention) are distributed in the area. The density of Phlebotomus sergenti before and after spraying was 2.5 and 0.5 per sticky trap and decreased to zero up to 2 months after spraying, but capture using CDC light trap often showed a lower density of P. sergenti and S. baghdadis. The potential for transmission of malaria is low because lack of anopheline density. There is an increased risk of scorpion sting due to massive accumulation of earthquake rubbles around the newly built houses and tents.