Dengue in Curaçao is carried by a mosquito that lives around houses. The illness is endemic on the island. Four serotypes circulate. An insect screen does not promise that nobody in the house will get sick. It lowers the number of mosquitoes that get into the bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen.
The mosquito is Aedes aegypti. It bites in the morning, at dusk, and through the day, not only at night. The female needs blood to lay eggs. She uses the same gaps people leave open for the trade wind: louvers, a sash left ajar, a door to the terrace.
What already happened with this mosquito
The same species was behind the chikungunya wave in 2014–2015 and Zika in 2016–2017. This page does not go into yellow fever or malaria. It stays with the mosquito that already lives next to homes here, and with the openings it uses.
PAHO lists screens on windows and doors among the things a household can do, next to covering water containers and clearing standing water. A screen is one layer. It is not a clinic, and this page is not a health authority.
What a screen changes, and what it does not
Indoors, fewer mosquitoes make it through the louvers and the door. That is the part a screen can change. Outdoors, on the terrace, in the garden, and at a neighbour’s house, a bite can still happen. The screen does not follow anyone outside.
The second layer is water. Eggs are laid where water stands: buckets, plant pots, gutters, the tray under an air conditioner, old tires. Emptying those is separate from fitting a screen. The week after rain is its own subject. Here it is enough to know that mesh and dry containers work together, and that neither one replaces the other.
The first window is the bedroom
People looking up dengue are often trying to sleep. The bedroom is the first opening worth covering, because that window stays open for the breeze. A fixed window screen suits a shutter that stays in place. If the sash has to swing, or the view should be clear by day, the choice is in which insect screen fits the opening. Shutter windows have their own note: insect screens for shutter windows.
After the bedroom, the door to the terrace is the next gap. A patio screen closes a whole outdoor room. It does not stop a bite in the garden beyond it.
Symptoms people are told to watch for are general ones: fever, headache, and pain in the muscles and joints. If someone is ill, the next step is a doctor or the public health service in Curaçao. This page does not describe treatment, and Spectra Solutions does not offer vaccination.
A screen lowers the number of mosquitoes that get indoors. Bites outdoors can still happen. This page is not medical advice. For illness, contact a doctor or the public health service in Curaçao.
A photo of the bedroom window is enough to start. WhatsApp +5999 660 7193. Installation is included in the quote.
