Perama: pest control in schools before term starts

The Municipality of Perama has begun an extensive programme of rodent control, insect control and disinfection across its whole territory, with the emphasis on school units ahead of the new school year. The programme was announced on Thursday 20 August 2026 and, according to THRIASSIO, crews are carrying out spraying in all primary and secondary schools as well as in the municipal nurseries. The applications cover both indoor spaces, that is classrooms, offices and toilets, and the school yards. At the same time applications are being carried out on the stormwater network and in drains with standing water, with systematic larviciding and rodent control. The programme also includes measures against rodents in communal areas, squares and neighbourhoods of the town.

Larviciding targets mosquitoes before they reach adulthood, that is at the larval stage that develops in standing water. Stormwater drains, sewers and every point where water remains act as breeding sites, and for that reason repeated applications on the network are considered more effective than spraying adult mosquitoes. The municipality states its aim as limiting the mosquito population and preventing the spread of viruses, among them the West Nile virus, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The issue has concerned Attica more widely this year: in Petroupoli a case of the virus was recorded and spraying followed, with municipalities stepping up preventive applications.

For Perama, the timing of the programme has practical significance. School buildings stay closed for weeks over the summer, so insects and rodents find favourable conditions, while the yards and outdoor areas accumulate vegetation and debris. Completing the applications before pupils and teachers return allows the necessary safety interval after spraying to elapse, so that the spaces are handed over ready for use. Perama is a municipality with a steep terrain, an old stormwater network and extensive semi-urban areas, features that make maintaining the drains demanding. The municipality has recently gone ahead with other everyday improvements as well, such as the installation of solar-powered lighting columns in dark neighbourhoods.

No numerical details of the programme have been made public. The municipality did not announce exactly how many schools and how many nurseries are covered, what the budget for the work is, or who the contractor carrying out the applications is. Nor has a timetable for completion per school unit been made known, or whether repeat applications are planned during the school year. Parents and school units are usually informed by the municipality and the school committees of the spraying dates for each building, since ventilation of the spaces is required after the application. The programme is expected to continue until classes begin, while applications in the drains and the stormwater network are usually repeated for as long as the mosquito activity period lasts.