Effectiveness of Red Lime with the Local Herbal to Eliminate Aedes spp. Larvae in the Semi-Urban Community of Thailand: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Dengue virus (DENV) has been the most important arboviral disease in the world, responsible for significant morbidity and mortality, especially in tropical countries. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the red lime with the local herbal to eliminate the Aedes Aegypti larvae in the semi-urban community of Thailand before and after 2-weeks intervention program. This is a one-group design of Quasi-experimental study. The 45 samples who were lived in the semi-urban community of Thailand and recruited by using the purposive random sampling. The main outcome consisted of the house index (HI) and Container Index (CI) of Aedes spp. larvae and the incidence rate of dengue fever. The secondary outcomes were assessed the knowledge about dengue fever and awareness on dengue fever. The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to test of normality in all of variables and the paired-sample t-test was used for comparing before and after 2-weeks intervention program within the group. The results showed that the baseline compared with 2-weeks intervention, there was at 11.9% of HI and decreased to be 1.74% of HI after 2-weeks measured. There was at 9.97% of CI and decreased to be 1.34% of CI after 2-weeks measured (p<0.001). The incidence rate of dengue fever was at 622.17 per 100,000 population in the year 2020 and decreased to be 1.56 per 100,000 population. Moreover, the secondary outcomes showed that the knowledge and awareness about dengue fever were increased significantly after 2-weeks intervention program (p<0.001). The finding suggests that the healthcare staff should apply the intervention program with the usual care to eliminate the Aedes Aegypti larvae and prevent and control the dengue fever problem in the future.