Monsoon doubles mosquito trouble

Dhaka residents may witness a bigger wave of dengue in the coming days, as the population of Aedes mosquitoes in monsoon is over double that of the previous season.

A DGHS monsoon survey, conducted between August 11 and 23, found the presence of Aedes mosquitoes in 13.4 percent of houses under DNCC and 11.75 percent of homes under DSCC.

""The density [of Aedes mosquitoes] found in monsoon is more than double of the density found in the pre-monsoon survey," said Dr Md Ekramul Haque, deputy programme manager of the malaria and ATD control programme at DGHS.

"More dengue cases may be witnessed if proper measures are not taken immediately," he said.

According to the monsoon survey, Aedes mosquitoes were present in 45.2 percent of multi-storied buildings and 24.8 percent of under-construction buildings under DNCC.

Besides, they were also found in 20.3 percent of independent houses, 6.8 percent of slums or semi-pucca houses, and 2.8 percent of vacant plots.

In DSCC areas, the mosquitoes were found in 33.0 percent of multi-storied buildings, 27 percent of independent houses, 12.1 percent of slums, and 5.1 percent of vacant plots.

A total of 1,319 households of 40 DNCC wards and 1,830 households of 58 DSCC wards were surveyed.

"The authorities will have to find clusters of Aedes mosquito-prone areas by collecting addresses of dengue patients. Then, they will have to take effective measures within a 500-yard radius of the homes. This measure, called hotspot management, will also raise awareness in the areas," said entomologist Monzur A Chowdhury.

Entomologist of Jahangirnagar University Prof Kabirul Bashar said if the authorities fail to conduct hotspot management, the number of dengue patients will continue to increase.

Ekramul said they are sending dengue kits to upazilas to diagnose dengue patients.

They are also holding workshops regularly. One such workshop was held on Monday, where focal persons of 50 hospitals in Dhaka city took part, he mentioned.

DNCC BUYS 30 BOATS TO CLEAN WATERBODIES

DNCC Chief Health Officer Brig Gen Md Zobaidur Rahman said they have purchased 30 boats to clean waterbodies and use insecticides properly.

The authorities have also introduced a "bell system", where mosquito-control workers use bells when spraying larvicide to improve monitoring and inform residents about the activities, he explained.

This has been going on in 54 wards of DNCC for the last 15 days, he mentioned.

Md Abu Nasher, DSCC public relations officer, said apart from their routine anti-mosquito drives, they are taking different measures to control Aedes mosquitoes, including conducting drives around houses of dengue patients.