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Deadly Dengue lie in wait

Published : Monday, 10 May, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 683

Deadly Dengue lie in wait

Deadly Dengue lie in wait

Similar to last year, Dengue fever is likely to join the pandemic too. Fortunately enough, wreaking unanticipated health havoc in three consecutive years 2017, 18 and 19 - Particularly, in 2019 101,354 dengue cases were recorded with the mosquito-borne disease - killing 179 people. Good that Dengue hadn't managed to erupt as a health disaster since last year.

However, according to a latest survey carried out by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) 4 areas of the capital are at risk of dengue infection due to a growing presence of Aedes mosquitoes - carriers of the disease. The areas are: Lalmatia and Iqbal Road under Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Sayedabad and North Jatrabari of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Among the containers with Aedes larvae, the DGHS survey also estimated the presence of larvae volume: 20.22 percent in flooded floors of under-construction buildings, 19.10 percent in plastic drums, 11.24 percent in buckets, 7.87 percent in water tanks, 6.74 percent in the holes of water meters, 2.25 percent in flower pots and trays, 4.49 percent in plastic bottles and 3.37 percent at the bottom of elevator shafts.

Now that the exact spots of larvae breeding and percentage have been pin pointedly identified in exact spots, it's time for our city corporation authorities to move quickly.

We do not expect the two City Corporation authorities to repeat their failures of previous years in this year too. On that note - potential mosquito breeding grounds, garbage depots and the city's water bodies must be frequently sprayed with high-quality mosquito spray. Source reduction can be effective when performed regularly, especially when members of a community are mobilised and educated about vector control. Most importantly, DGHS identified spots as source and breeding grounds must be prioritised. City dwellers need to keep their surroundings clean and cleaning campaigns should be carried out on a regular basis.

With regard to strains, Aedes mosquitoes can contain four types of viruses. Type 1 and type 2 were prevalent till 2016 and type 3 has its predominance since 2017. To prevent a potential outbreak, it is important to train up nurses and medics to have proper training in dengue diagnosis and treatment. Also important is to line up instruments that help detecting the disease.

The scaring fact - seemingly dengue is now turned into an endemic - meaning to be with us round the year. It is also time for our media industry to launch an intense countrywide campaign to raise awareness. We will have to combat the Coronavirus and Dengue fever together, not separately.






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