A profusion of Aedes mosquitoes has been found in houses in Dhaka during the pre-monsoon period, said an ongoing survey of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), a wing of Directorate of General of Health Services (DGHS).
This number is 4-5 per cent higher than that found in the monsoon period last year, said people involved in the survey. They also said the number of larva found suggests the dengue situation could be very dangerous in the country this year.
IEDCR conducts surveys thrice every year -- pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon -- to determine the mosquito population in the areas of Dhaka north and south city corporations.
Starting on 17 June, this year the pre-monsoon survey will end today, Tuesday. The survey has so far been conducted at 70 per cent of the houses. This has revealed an alarming situation.
The situation is really worrisome. But prevention is still possible if we all work together
Speaking to Prothom Alo on Monday, IEDCR’s disease control department director professor Nazmul Islam said, “I can say with certainty that in no way the number of larva found in this pre-monsoon period is less than the number of larva found in the monsoon last year; rather, it is more. The survey has not been completed as yet. The number could be 5-6 per cent more than last year. Such a huge number of larva was not found in houses in the last 5-6 years.”
He further said through the survey they try to determine the presence of mosquitos in under-construction buildings, houses, high-rises, basements, semi-pucca houses and slum areas within the capital city.
DGHS sources said people involved in the survey are finding larva in all sorts of containers, beverage bottles, in the ruts of collapsible gates, discarded tyres and curd pots, flowerpots of roof gardens, holes near water meters, coconut shells, abandoned cork sheets, ceramic vessels, broken railings of stairs, discarded vehicle parts, and in garages.
Deputy programme manager of the national malaria elimination and Aedes mosquito borne disease control programme, Md Ekramul Haque, informed Prothom Alo about the findings of pre-monsoon survey.
He said the survey was to be conducted in a total of 3,150 houses of two city corporations of Dhaka city. So far 2200 houses have been covered. The Aedes mosquito larva has been found at 350 houses (16 per cent).
Whereas the presence of aedes Mosquito larva was reported at 12 per cent houses in the survey conducted during the monsoon period last year, said the report published in September, 2022. This year the presence of larva was higher at the houses of DSCC area.
Ekramul Haque said, “Earlier, the larva used to be found at best in 200 out of 3150 houses on average. This year though the survey is yet to be completed, larva has been found at so many houses. The number will increase when the survey will come to an end. The situation is alarming.”
DGHS will reveal the results of this pre-monsoon survey formally in the first week of July. The results of the survey will be published at a time when dengue has already spread around the country.
The number of infected people and deaths in dengue in the first six months of this year has already crossed the number of infected and deaths in the first six months of last year. Only one person died of dengue in the first six months and 1089 people were infected last year. But according to the DGHS, as of 26 June this year, 45 people passed away and 7,609 were infected.
Professor Nazmul Islam said to Prothom Alo on Monday, “Though in the post-monsoon survey we found presence of larva in 4 per cent of the houses on average, the number crossed 10 per cent in some areas last year. That time we assumed the dengue situation would be severe this year. The situation is really worrisome. But prevention is still possible if we all work together.”
* The report was originally published in the print edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza