Mosquito breeding in the schools before and after the beginning of summer term in Xuhui District, Shanghai

ObjectiveTo investigate the breeding conditions of mosquitoes and larvaes in 12 schools in Xuhui District of Shanghai before and after the beginning of summer term, and to provide basis for mosquitoes control in schools.

MethodsWe used stratified random sampling to select 4 schools from each of the categories: kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, colleges and technical secondary schools in Xuhui District in August and September 2019.We used the methods of human landing catch, visual evaluation and ladling to investigate the breeding conditions of mosquitoes and larvaes before and after the beginning of summer semester.

ResultsThe mosquito density was 10.50 (per person per time) after the beginning of term, lower than 19.00 (per person per time) before schools opening, and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=4.20, P < 0.05).The positive rate of larvae breeding in small-scale ponds after the beginning of term was 31.47%, lower than 44.23% before the schools opening, and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=4.22, P < 0.05).The positive rate of larval breeding in medium and large static water was 14.00% after the beginning of term, lower than 17.86% before the schools opening, and the difference was no significant (χ²=1.03, P=0.31).

ConclusionSchools need to take the following actions: to focus on the work to manage mosquito breeding sites on campus before the beginning of the term; to strengthen the daily work of environment control; to establish a model of prevention and control in cooperation with multi-medical and educational departments, and to form a collaboration system in application of drugs to rain-water catch basin sand in other mosquito control work in residential areas.