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Speaker 1: But look, what we do know at the moment is

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Speaker 1: that as territorians are well acquainted with those peski mausies well,

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Speaker 1: especially during the wet season. But this season's unprecedented rain

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Speaker 1: has prompted a warning from the Health department about an

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Speaker 1: increase in mosquito numbers. Now joining us on the line

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Speaker 1: is the Chief Health Officer, doctor Paul Burgers. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Doctor Burgers.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, and good morning to you listeners.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. Now tell me

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Speaker 1: what is driving the surge in mosquito numbers across the

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Speaker 1: territory and how long are we expecting this to last?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, no surprises to anyone who's been here for a while.

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Speaker 2: There's been plenty of rain and plenty of flooding, and

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Speaker 2: where of course, particularly our friends and colleagues in the

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Speaker 2: Catherine region the well acquainted with that and experiencing the

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Speaker 2: new flood event this week, and we hope for the

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Speaker 2: last of the wet season. And look i those floodwaters subside,

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Speaker 2: what we'll see is pools of water congregating, and we're

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Speaker 2: the pools of water, its stagnant pools. That's ideal mosquito

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Speaker 2: breeding habitat. So it's a big issue now, probably in

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Speaker 2: the Catherine region. There are a couple of bugs we

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Speaker 2: do worry about. The mosquitos can spread, so we are

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Speaker 2: taking mosquito control measures in the next week or so

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Speaker 2: as those floodwaters subside. But also members of the general

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Speaker 2: public there's many things they can do to help protect

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Speaker 2: themselves as well. Have to talk through any of those things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so tell me a little bit more about some

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Speaker 1: of the measures that are going to be taken to

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Speaker 1: you to try to have an impact, I guess on

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Speaker 1: those affected areas.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I just probably just explained the two bugs we

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Speaker 2: worry most about. They're uncommon, but if they do occur,

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Speaker 2: they can be very nasty for people to contract Japanese

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Speaker 2: and caphalitis and Murray Valley and caphalitis. People will also

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Speaker 2: be probably all too familiar or no people have ros

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Speaker 2: river virus. That's quite a painful disease, but not as

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Speaker 2: serious as the first two I mentioned. As we do,

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Speaker 2: we have a team called medical entomologists and they actually

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Speaker 2: go to treat or spray pools of stagnant water to

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Speaker 2: reduce mosquito breeding habitat, and that's very safe. The sprays

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Speaker 2: they use the target specific they're really not harmful of

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Speaker 2: humans or pets or livestock or native wildlife, but they'll

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Speaker 2: completely by it a grade within seven days. But they

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Speaker 2: will knock out that breeding stock of mosquito larva.

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Speaker 1: Yeah right, which obviously you know we want to happen,

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Speaker 1: particularly as we've got these increased numbers. Tell me though,

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Speaker 1: in terms of you know, the likes of Murray Valley,

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Speaker 1: very Valley, I should say, in cephalitis and Japanese incephalitis,

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Speaker 1: Like how prevalent are they and how do people know

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Speaker 1: whether they have contracted something like that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, and cephalis means inflammation on the brain, So

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Speaker 2: people generally get present with high feeders, with headaches and

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Speaker 2: with confusion, and so if people do suffer those symers,

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Speaker 2: we encourage them to see their healthcare provider, their GP

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Speaker 2: and then take an assessment from there. Look, they are

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Speaker 2: viruses that circulate in the environment. We actually test for those.

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Speaker 2: We have a surveillance program in place. We've had no

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Speaker 2: detections of those two viruses we worry about from testing

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Speaker 2: from January, so that's somewhat reassuring. However, it can pop up.

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Speaker 2: So we were encouraging people to take their own personal

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Speaker 2: measures to protect themselves and maulsi bites. But also when

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Speaker 2: our staff are in the Catain region next week, they'll

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Speaker 2: need to request permission to access private property to in

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Speaker 2: the rural areas of Catherine to treat skirt of breeding habitat.

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Speaker 2: We really encourage people to cooperate with our teams who

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Speaker 2: are trying to do their best to protect the health

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Speaker 2: of the Northern Territorians and everybody.

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Speaker 1: You know, we all play our beat in different ways

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Speaker 1: now in terms of what you know, what personal measures

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Speaker 1: we can take as well. So I'm assuming you know,

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Speaker 1: if you're in Catherine and there are those increased mosquitos,

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Speaker 1: make sure you're covering up you know, where you deet

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And I think people in the

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Speaker 2: territory no strangers to mosquitos, but this is a good

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Speaker 2: time to be quite mindful that. And you know, if

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Speaker 2: you've got stacking and pulls of water in your backyard

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Speaker 2: or even your pot plants with the dishes beneath your

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Speaker 2: pop plants, tip those out. Make sure you're just really

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Speaker 2: reducing breeding happitat for mossi's for your own personal comfort,

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Speaker 2: but also obviously to decrease the risk of any of

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Speaker 2: these nasty infections that Mozzi spread.

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Speaker 1: Now, if you've just joined us, we've got the Chief

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Speaker 1: Health Officer, doctor Paul Burgers on the line. Paul, before

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Speaker 1: I let you go, I understand that some of those

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Speaker 1: boil alerts have been lifted as well for the flood

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Speaker 1: affected areas across the top end.

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Speaker 2: Yep. Absolutely, So we've got a process. When the floods

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Speaker 2: come through, they tend to knock out our drinking water

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Speaker 2: supplies and our sewerage networks. As a matter of public safety,

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Speaker 2: we have to put a ball we're learning because we

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Speaker 2: can't guarantee this safety of water. The next process is

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Speaker 2: when those systems come back online, we do take a

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Speaker 2: sample and make sure everything's safe to go, and then

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Speaker 2: we lift those ball water alerts. So as we return

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Speaker 2: to somewhat normal conditions and in coming days of those

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Speaker 2: ballwater alerts will be lifted.

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Speaker 1: Well, Doctor Paul Burgess, the Chief Health Officer for the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, good to talk to you this morning. Always

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: My pleasure, all the best.

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Speaker 1: Thank you,