Pest Status, Sustainable Pest Management And Development Of An Online Pest Reporting System For Healthcare Facilities In Singapore

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Date
2016-08
Authors
Man, Lai Sum
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Abstract
In this thesis, the pest status in healthcare facilities (HFs) in Singapore, along with the sustainable management for pest ants and rodents, were studied. Also, an online reporting system (pest-online) was developed and tested as the reporting system for HFs in Singapore. More than half (52.5%) of the 200 healthcare personnel reported ants as the most common pest they encountered in the HFs. Only 10% of the respondents felt that using non-chemical way to kill a pest is important. Less than half of the healthcare personnel understand the importance of sanitation in a pest management program.87% of the respondents had never heard of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Pest data collected between 2008 and 2010 showed that ants, rodents, flies, mosquito and cockroach were the top five pests that commonly found in the HFs. Of the five pests, ants received the most service requests. With thorough inspection, intensive trapping, proofing and constant monitoring, the year-long roof rat infestation at the five medical blocks at Singapore General Hospital was eliminated in 3 months. Higher numbers of roof rats were caught at the food areas (78 roof rats) as compared to non-food areas (14 roof rats) during the mass trapping. After the total elimination in June 2007, monitoring with glue boards were continued to December 2009 and there was no re-infestation of roof rat inside four of the medical blocks. A total of 18 pest ant species were trapped. Of these, the most common species were Pheidole parva Mayr (25.9%), Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius) (25.2%), Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille) (14.1%), Monomorium. pharaonis (Linnaeus) (9.6%) and Tapinoma indicum (Forel) (8.1%). Most of the ants were found in and around premises. Both thiamethoxam and indoxacarb bait formulations achieved more than 90% reduction in P. longicornis counts at 3-day post-treatment. As for T. indicum, more than 90% reduction was achieved at 3-day and 4-week post-treatment with thiamethoxam and indoxacarb bait respectively. With hydramethylnon baits, percentage reduction for both P. megacephala and P. parva ant counts were greater than 95% at 3-day post-treatment. With pest-online, there was a significant increase in the finding of structural, housekeeping and pest issues (P < 0.05). Pest-online enable automation in the reporting process which improve workflow process, data analysis, productivity and service quality, it save archiving cost, and with good data accessibility. The mobile application of pest online can serve as a good reporting tool for the pest management professionals.
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The pest status in healthcare facilities (HFs) in Singapore , along with the sustainable management for pest ants and rodents
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