Colombian town launches education campaign to combat Zika virus

In the first two months of this year, 109 new cases of Zika virus infection have been reported in Girardot, a tourist town of about 100,000 people in central Colombia.

The number is significantly less than the 1,731 cases reported in the town in the last two months of 2015. Officials attribute the decline to an intense education campaign in the town, which is located in the department of Cundinamarca and 120 km southwest of Bogota.

Manuel Diaz Gonzalez, the top health official of the town, said a mass campaign has been carried out to raise awareness about prevention and control and the need to change "bad habits."

"Not carrying out maintenance on swimming pools every eight days and leaving water reservoirs uncovered are factors that allow the mosquito to breed," he said, referring to the Aedes aegypti mosquito that is believed to be a carrier of Zika virus and a key means of transmission.

Health officers and those involved in the campaign have regularly visited the most vulnerable neighborhoods to spread messages promoting the right habits, with the help of local media.

The results have been obvious, with shorter queues of affected women in doctors' waiting rooms. Officials say local residents are now more aware of the nature of the mosquito that carries the virus.

Gonzalez said previous experience of epidemics such as a chikungunya outbreak in 2014 has helped when it comes to implementing the campaign.

"It is a question of adopting good practices as an individual, as part of a family and as a community. Being aware of carrying out the adequate hygiene measures in our family pools and not accumulating useless items are very small things that make a difference," Gonzalez said.

Elcy Ramirez, a patient who was infected with Zika virus, said it is necessary to raise public awareness through intense campaigns.

"(The programs) are very good. We need to clean the swimming pools, get rid of all bottles with water, improve our hygiene and cleanliness and keep in touch with the doctor," Ramirez said.

Ramirez had had a bad headache, sore eyes, muscular pains, fever, shivers, diarrhea, sickness and swollen hands. There is no cure for Zika infection. Most patients recover after a period of time but the infection has been associated with abnormally small heads in children born to mothers who were infected in their pregnancy.

Gonzalez said fumigating is not so efficient to curb the spread of the virus, and it damages the environment and affects people's health.

"Fumigating doesn't work if the swimming pool is not in a good state or if it has not been adequately looked after. In eight days the house will be full of mosquitoes once again," he said.

Gonzalez said he hopes the campaign that gets members of the general public involved to be expanded to other affected cities in Colombia.

More than 200 towns and villages across Colombia have been affected by the Zika virus, especially those in the Caribbean and Andean zones. The epidemic began spreading in the country in August 2015 when a woman in the city of Cali was found to be carrying the virus.

The virus has infected 42,700 people in Colombia as of Feb. 27, 2016, including 7,653 pregnant women, the National Health Institute said.

Health authorities said they expect at least 600,000 people to be infected with the virus this year in Colombia.

Neighboring towns have been learning from the prevention programs of Girardot. They also observed a decrease in the number of new Zika cases. Endi