Evaluation of the performance of exterminators for rodent control in five regions of Tehran municipality

Abstract:
Rats ( Norway rat and roof rat ) and mice are commensal rodents, that is, they live in close association with human. Rodents cause numerous problems such as spread serious diseases, consume or contaminate food supply, carry ectoparasites which potentially spread diseases, start fires and cause great deal of anxiety for occupants of infected building. Because of their abundance in the city of Tehran, the municipality of Tehran designed a rodent control program in the year 2000, which contained 2 phases. The first phase was based on the use of poison baits for quick knock down and preventing rapid growth. The second phase, in addition to poison baiting, was to use non – poisoning methods. At the present time, unfortunately, the people in Tehran are observing these animals in all parts of city but the population of rodent is high. Thus, it was necessary to evaluate the rodent control program. The aim of this study was to evaluate one of the important elements of rodent control, the performance of exterminator teams, in five region of municipality of Tehran. The results of this study could direct the authorities in correcting the exterminator’s deficiency and weakness in controlling these animals. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the essential information. After coordination with authorities of Tehran municipality, the data were collected from direct questions of team workers and observations of their performance in five randomly selected regions. The results of this study showed that, the implementation of Tehran rodent control measures encounters a number of difficulties, of which were: 1) The number of rodent control staff and personnel in each team was not according to municipality standards; 2) Intersectoral collaboration among the agencies was very poor and also coordination within the other interfering sectors, in municipality also was not adequate; 3) Inadequate technical knowledge of workers for baiting program; 4) Lack of community participation because of inadequate information about the rodent control program; 5) On the other hand, there are some obstacles such as lack of laws for obligatory control for ownerless and abandoned houses and so on, which affects on competency of the exterminator’s performance. The rodent control program in Tehran require comprehensive integrated control approaches. This program should be implemented by well-trained personnel. In addition, a strong political will is essential in ensuring that a long term and practical program is implemented.