Termites attack Abdel Salam village in El Wadi El Gedid

CAIRO – 5 September 2018: Abdel Salam village in El Wadi El Gedid, has been invaded by termites, causing damage to the houses.

Families have reported that countless termites occupied the walls, doors and ceilings of their houses, causing wood excavation and sagging floors. Wood storage is reportedly one of the reasons for their appearance in large numbers.

A citizen at the village told Egypt Today that their house isold and made of bricks and logs, which termites feed on and which has ledto serious damage to their house.
He added that termites’ numbers are increasing, and specialized agencies have not interfered to effectively combat them.

Majd al-Marsa, undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture in El Wadi El Gedid, said that 600 liters of pesticides has been distributed across El Wadi El Gedid for free based on the infections.

He added that a quarter of the pesticides’ quantity has been available for Abdel Salam village free of charge, and that citizens would have to bear the cost of the rest, but the residents refused.

Four cities in Upper Egypt’s Luxor governorate have been invaded by swamps of termites, causing noticeable damages in houses due to infestation.

The government has announced that an emergency campaign managed to eliminate the insect in 215 houses in Luxor over the past 48 hours.

Termites (also known in Arabic as white ants) usually appear in warm, dark and moist places. That is why certain species of termites dig deep into the soil during winter until they are warmer. Termites rarely cause noise during their activity.

Ways to control the insect include using wet traps to attract them and spraying the wood with boric acid. Termites bite and attack wood, but they do not bite humans.

Termites are in Luxor largely due to negligence, according to Khaled Abdel Rady, the undersecretary of the Agriculture Ministry in Luxor, since many residents do not apply preventive measures and pre-construction treatment to the soil.

The storage of agricultural leftovers of firewood and straw inside houses and in surrounding areas is also a malpractice that attractslarge numbers of termites to houses, Rady told Egypt Today.

The cities that are the most affected by the spread of termites are Kurna, Armant, Esna and El-Tod, and are located on the west bank of the River Nile.

The Ministry of Agriculture has formed operation rooms at Egypt’s Veterinary Medicine Directorates to receive citizens’ complaints and intensify its monitoring of veterinary campaigns to the markets of cattle, sheep and goats.

It was reported that some residents refuse to apply the treatment as it requires digging 30 centimeters deep around their houses, where pesticides are poured.