United States and Peruvian Navies collaborate to provide improved public health measures against dengue fever vector, Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae), in Lima, Peru

Dengue fever is a serious public health and military disease in Perú. Aedes aegypti, the primary mosquito vector of the four dengue serotypes, is present throughout Perú, and was found breeding on the Peruvian Naval Hospital Base in Callao District of Lima. There are limited entomology training programs available in Perú to teach identification, surveillance and control of Aedes aegypti: most training occurs as on-the-job training of medical personnel of the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MOH) and Institutes of Health (INS). The Peruvian Navy deploys its active-duty nurses throughout the country, so that those personnel are stationed in remote areas that are endemic “hot-spots” for dengue fever. To increase country-wide control of Aedes aegypti, and to reduce incidence of dengue fever, a collaboration between the Peruvian Naval Hospital Medical Center (CEMENA), the University of San Marcos Institute of Tropical Medicine (UNMSM ITM), and the United States Naval Medical Research Unit No. Six (NAMRU-6) was established to provide training to Peruvian Naval Nurses immediately prior to their deployments. This study presents data of mosquitoes collected during the two-day training course that was provided for the Peruvian Naval nurses.