The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s pesticide department is on a mission to fight dengue with all its staff back from their election duties.
On Monday, the department launched a special aedes mosquito programme that aims to control the rise in dengue cases.
Rajan Naringrekar, head of pesticide department, BMC, said, “Almost 50% of our staffs were on election duty because of which fogging in areas like Chembur, Kandivli, Borivli, Bandra (E) and Bhandup got severely affected.”
According to BMC, these are also one of the many areas which shows high incidence of dengue cases.
Naringrekar added, “Ward-wise we are taking details from hospitals on cases of dengue suspected, probable and positive. Accordingly, we will visit the areas. Aedes mosquito, carrier of dengue virus, has flight range of 50-100 meters. We are micro-mapping the areas that show dengue cases and we will soon visit and check the breeding spots.”
BMC in its recent surveys found that around 60% of such cases are seen in affluent housing societies where they discovered breeding spots in mini-fountains, feng shui plants and miniature artificial ponds. “Aedes mosquito breeding spots are mostly found indoors. A mosquito has a life of seven days and aedes mosquito breeds in fresh stagnant water. Our mission is to reach each and every household and take people’s help to stop mosquitoes breeding,” said Naringrekar.
Doctors have also noticed a dangerous trend in vector-borne diseases with people contracting both dengue and malaria. Though the number of such cases are less, doctors believe it is important to check for both the diseases.
