The World Health Organisation (WHO) has made it clear that people have tended to dramatise the situation as far as the chikungunya viral infection is concerned. Lee Jong-Wook, the WHO director, said the disease was not so serious and that there was no reason to panic. However, this is not a reason for washing one?s hands of the virus and letting it spread throughout the country.

Citizens must reinforce their efforts to eliminate mosquitoes and all places where the insects could breed in their homes and gardens. With the recent rain from cyclone Diwa, there should be more mosquitoes than ever and the fight should as well be more organised than ever.

Local authorities appear annoyed by the fact that citizens do not contribute enough to the ?mosquito eradication? campaign launched by the government a few weeks ago. WHO specialist, Dr Pierre Formenty, warned, ?The first thing to do is to mobilise the population. You can buy hundreds of fogging machines but if you do not develop a ?no mosquito? culture, then all your efforts will be in vain.? But while repellents are disappearing from the shelves day after day, the public is not making much effort to eliminate every site that could lead to mosquito proliferation. In fact, the fight against chikungunya appears to be more of a personal battle than a national effort - when in fact an effort on both levels would be far more effective.

<B>Door-to-door campaign</B>

The ministry of Health has started a ?door-to-door? campaign to make people aware of the necessity to eliminate stagnant water from their houses and gardens. ?We visit every house to advise people to clean their gardens but many have not understood,? explains the president of the Black River district council, Aneerood Chunwan. His counterpart in Grand-Port Savanne, Ramesh Basenoo, finds such behaviour ?unacceptable?.

The private sector ? Medine sugar factory, Gamma Civic and the Association of Hoteliers and Restaurants of Mauritius (AHRIM) ? has joined the public sector in their fight against mosquitoes but this will be fruitless unless every citizen becomes conscious that he/she has a role to play in their extermination.

Although the virus is not life-threatening? except in specific and rare cases ? Mauritius has to do everything to stop the epidemic and avoid reaching a situation like the one in Reunion where the virus is expected to affect the whole population soon. Mauritius can?t afford to have such a huge number of its workers in bed. But, as we have not even been able to stop the spread of chikungunya, the spectre of bird flu is lurking ahead. The WHO director made it clear that this would be far more dangerous than the present virus; the authorities have to take all steps to prevent the HRN5 virus from coming close to our shores?