Child 'Army' to Tackle Zika Mosquito Breeding in Brazil

As Brazil has been hardly hit with the Zika virus, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff led two dozen ministers on a campaign to form an "army" of children against the Zika-carrying mosquito.

Brazil is at the heart of an international scare over Zika, which has been linked to the serious birth defect microcephaly in babies born to infected women.

Brazil Confirms 508 Cases of Microcephaly Amid Zika Scare
The increase in microcephaly is linked to an explosion of the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, with an estimated 1.5 million people infected.

‘Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff urged children and health workers to actively participate in cleaning the premises to prevent mosquito breeding and Zika spread.’

Tweet it Now

With no cure to microcephaly or vaccine against Zika, Brazil's government has ordered out tens of thousands of troops and health workers in a door to door campaign to clean up stagnant water pools where mosquitoes breed.

Joining that push, Rousseff and 25 ministers from her sprawling cabinet urged children to form the next wave.

"The school can create a little army of children, adolescents and youths that will go home and mobilize the parents," Agriculture Minister Katia Abreu said in a visit to a school in Goiana, in the west.

Brazil Had Just Notched Up a Tiny Victory Against Zika
Teams of naval personnel and sanitation staff went house to house, garden to garden, flower pot to flower pot to destroy the Zika-transmitting mosquito larvae.

She said each tiny "soldier" would be armed with a supply of insecticide to take home.

But at another school, Rousseff said the most important tactic in the government's declared war on mosquitos is to clear up water pools.

International Health Experts to Visit Brazil to Check Rise in Zika Virus
Experts from the US Centers for Disease Control are already in Brazil and officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, are due to arrive.

"Fifteen minutes a week is all you need," Rousseff said in a speech in front of children in the north-eastern city of Juazeiro.

"Talk with your parents, talk with your neighbors," she urged. "Because look how things are: if a mosquito produces 1,500 eggs and if there's a street with let's say 20 houses, then if 19 houses fight the mosquito and one doesn't, that's enough for the mosquito to have a party."

Brazil Finds Zika Virus in the Brains of Babies Born With Microcephaly
Brazilian researchers have discovered Zika virus in the brains of babies with microcephaly. This adds to growing evidence of a link between Zika and birth defects.

Rousseff said that protecting pregnant women from the risk of Zika is to protect "the future of this country."

Source-AFP