Integrated vector management with additional pre-transmission season thermal fogging is associated with a reduction in dengue incidence in Makassar, Indonesia: Results of an 8-year observational study

by Isra Wahid, Hasanuddin Ishak, Abdul Hafid, Muhammad Fajri, Sukmawati Sidjal, Armin Nurdin, Naisyah Tun Azikin, Rusdyah Sudirman, Hajar Hasan, Muhammad Yusuf, Imam Bachtiar, William A. Hawley, Ronald Rosenberg, Neil F. Lobo

Dengue virus transmission is endemic in Makassar, Indonesia, with the majority of cases reported soon after the start of the annual rainy season. Before 2006, larval source reduction, larvaciding, and reactive routine, outdoor, insecticide fogging campaigns did not result in a reduction in seasonal dengue incidence. Beginning in 2006, village volunteers conducted comprehensive surveys for immature Aedes during the dry season, when vector populations were at their lowest. Based on this pre-season vector data, a single additional pre-emptive outdoor fogging with Malathion was conducted once annually before the rains began in villages with a pre-defined proportion of sampled houses positive for Aedes immatures. This additional procedure was associated with reduced temporal larval indices as well as an 83% reduction in reported cases during the transmission season over the 8-year period of implementation. Two cities adjacent to Makassar experienced substantial but smaller reductions in dengue incidence; while other cities further from the intervention area did not. This represents the first time an integrated intervention strategy has been coupled with substantially reduced dengue transmission in Indonesia.