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Speaker 1: Joining me on the line is Nina Currency, director of

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Speaker 1: Medical entomology at the Center for Disease Control. Good morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Nina, Yeah, good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Nina. We're being told that mossies are expected to be

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Speaker 1: pretty bad from Monday. Events that could occur due to

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Speaker 1: weather this time of the year do make it perfect conditions,

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Speaker 1: of course, for mossi numbers to rise. Tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about what to expect.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, obviously we had very high tides and quite

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Speaker 2: a bit of rain, so that means all the Salt

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Speaker 2: Marsh mosquito eggs are now inundated with water and they

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Speaker 2: will all hatch at once. So we are expecting an

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Speaker 2: influx of these mosquitoes hitting pretty much all along the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory coastline, also Darwin, Palmerston rural areas. From Monday onwards.

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Speaker 2: There probably will be high numbers at least for the

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Speaker 2: next three weeks because of the humidity, they live long enough,

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Speaker 2: and unfortunately that also means that they're now able because

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Speaker 2: they've got enough time to pick up the Ross River

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Speaker 2: virus and potentially transmitted to people. So the high risk

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Speaker 2: period for Ross River is pretty much from December through

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Speaker 2: to March, and this is why we are urging people

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Speaker 2: to make sure not getting bitten by mosquitos, use thee

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Speaker 2: insect repellents and cover up with long sleeves and shirts,

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Speaker 2: and make sure that your kids when they're outside are

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Speaker 2: also adequately protected.

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Speaker 1: Nina, are there any suburbs which are going to be

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Speaker 1: more heavily impacted?

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Speaker 2: Yes, of any that are close to Salt marsh areas,

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Speaker 2: So we've got Leanya, Karama, all of those. Anything close

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Speaker 2: to the Casarina Coastal Reserve as well. But the department

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Speaker 2: has done extensive surveillance and control in those swamp areas

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Speaker 2: as well as in Darwin Urban itself and we have

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Speaker 2: treated close to two hundred and twenty five hectors of

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Speaker 2: high density breeding. But we know there's very large swamps

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Speaker 2: to the east of that area and these mosquitos can

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Speaker 2: fly up to fifty kilometers, so they will make their

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Speaker 2: way into Darwin suburbs and to all rural areas Palmerston

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Speaker 2: and along the coastline of course.

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Speaker 1: And Nina, what do we need to do to try

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Speaker 1: to protect ourselves?

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Speaker 2: So the best way is because these mosquitos, unfortunately by

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Speaker 2: day and night and they're pretty aggressive so the best

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Speaker 2: way is to use the insect repellent that contain deeed

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Speaker 2: o picarrodin. There's now an alternative around with oil of

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Speaker 2: lemon ucalyid also known as PMD that can be used.

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Speaker 2: And then just light colored long sleeved shirts, long pants

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Speaker 2: and socks, even though we all know it's hot, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: try to stay inside if it's really bad and if

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Speaker 2: you can, but as I said, there out day and night.

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Speaker 2: But if you use those precautions, that's probably your best protection.

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Speaker 2: And then there is mosquito lentns around you can buy

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Speaker 2: in any heart ware stores on normal supermarkets and they

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Speaker 2: also help a lot.

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Speaker 1: And Nina, I know that this is all obviously expected

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Speaker 1: from Monday, the increased number. How long are we expecting

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Speaker 1: it to last?

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Speaker 2: So pretty much we are predicting for the next three weeks. However,

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Speaker 2: if the weather is getting drier again and some of

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Speaker 2: these areas are drying out, then these mosquitos can lay

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Speaker 2: a lot of eggs again and then after the next

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Speaker 2: rain they will hatch again. So it really depends. If

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Speaker 2: it keeps raining, it should only be two to three weeks,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, otherwise this can reoccur and then obviously after

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Speaker 2: the first heavy mo monzoo, these mosquitos decrease in numbers.

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Speaker 2: But then you've got the common band of mosquitos that

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Speaker 2: are coming up, the freshwater breeders. They break continuously and

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Speaker 2: they also can transmit the Ross River virus as well

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Speaker 2: as Murray Valley encephalitis, which can be fatal. Yeah, but

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Speaker 2: those mosquitoes are active at night, so at the moment

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Speaker 2: they will be day and night. The other ones will

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Speaker 2: be at night. But having the opportunity, we would also

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Speaker 2: like to ask people to go into that backyard after

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Speaker 2: all this rain now and tip out everything that can

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Speaker 2: hold water and store it upside down out of the weather.

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Speaker 2: And that is because there's another mosquito that breeds close

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Speaker 2: to houses and that can also transmit ross through a

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Speaker 2: virus right into the backyard and chip out everything that

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Speaker 2: holds water.

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Speaker 1: Well, Nina, I tell you what, I'm always hoping for

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Speaker 1: the monsoon to arrive early, but I'm certainly hoping for

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Speaker 1: it now as well. After hearing that there's going to

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Speaker 1: be those increased Massie numbers and that year, if that

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Speaker 1: wet weather sticks around, it will sort of help to

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Speaker 1: keep those numbers down by the sounds of it after

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Speaker 1: this first lot, but really good advice as well in

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Speaker 1: terms of making sure that we tip out all that

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Speaker 1: water and just do all that we can to protect

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Speaker 1: ourselves from those pesky mossies.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and we also do have a salt marsh mosquito

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Speaker 2: past on our website and that tells people when high

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Speaker 2: numbers are expected. Also for twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: Two, Well, Nina Kurtz, the director of Medical Entomology at

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Speaker 1: the Center for Disease Control. We always appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having your chat this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,