Students take swipe at stopping dengue fever
MARCH 2009
Research by Cairns State High School biology students is helping to stop a dengue fever epidemic in the Far North.
The students are studying how to stamp out the Aedes aegypti mosquito which carries the dengue fever virus that has affected more than 700 people in the Far North since last November.
Under the microscope... Cairns State High School students Corey Whitaker and Joanna Wilson study the dengue mosquito.
Senior science teacher Dom Scali said the aim of the project was to meet Extended Experimental Investigation syllabus requirements as well as relate to a real-world problem.
'The research task is not a Mickey Mouse exercise,' Mr Scali said.
'We're using the same processes that trained scientists use.'
Mr Scali said the EEI task was to determine the number of traps needed per household to eradicate mosquitoes and stop an epidemic.
'Eighty biology students placed 21 traps around their homes for five weeks,' he said.
'Each student examined the traps weekly for mosquito eggs and the data was collated so it could be analysed and presented in a scientific report.
'Past results show three traps per household were enough to stop a major outbreak which corresponds with Queensland Health figures.
'The students' raw data has also been sent to Queensland Health's Dengue Action Response Team (DART) for independent analysis.'
Mr Scali said he was pleased to see changes in students' attitudes and behaviour in applying what they had learnt.
'By eradicating mosquito breeding sites around their homes, they've reduced person-to-person viral transmission,' he said
Mr Scali designed the research project five years ago with Queensland Health medical entomologist and James Cook University (JCU) Associate Professor Dr Scott Ritchie who is based at the Tropical Public Health Unit at JCU.
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