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00000000In
the 1950
Submenu
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s
and 1960s, a major effort was made to eradicate
the principal urban vector mosquito of dengue and yellow
fever viruses, A. aegypti, from the Americas(9). Success
was variable: eradication was achieved in Mexico, Panama,
Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay,
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, the Cayman Islands,
and Bermuda, but not in other countries of the region.
The failure to eradicate A. aegypti from the whole region
resulted in repeated reinvasions by this mosquito into
those countries that had achieved eradication. In the
1970s, support for surveillance and control programmes
was reduced, and by the end of the decade, most countries
of the region had been reinfested with A. aegypti.
By 1988, only Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica,
Uruguay and Chile remained free of this mosquito species
(Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Aedes aegypti distribution
in the americas.
Shaded areas represent countries with confirmed
Infestation in 1970 (A) and 1987 (B)
 
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