Larvae of dengue vector not found in federal capital

SURVEILLANCE AGAINST DENGUE FEVER

Islamabad

The teams of Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department have been carrying out surveillance activities to avoid dengue fever spread for nearly a month however, so far larvae of ‘aedes aegypti’, the vector that causes dengue fever have not been found from anywhere in the federal capital.

It is time for capacity building of the teams working for surveillance against dengue fever and the health department is working on it, said additional District Health Officer at ICT Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He said to date Islamabad is protected against dengue fever as larvae of dengue fever vector have not been found from anywhere in rural areas of the federal capital. The health department has launched an awareness campaign in all 15 union councils in rural areas of the federal capital in the beginning of March to educate public on precautionary measures to be taken to prevent tuberculosis and dengue fever, he said.

Giving details, he said as many as 300 lady health workers have been paying door-to-door visits in rural areas of the federal capital since the beginning of March for awareness among housewives and for larvae identification and elimination inside homes.

It is important that last year, in 2016, well over 2,800 confirmed cases of dengue fever were reported from Islamabad that was a record in the history of the federal capital. Of these cases, over 80 per cent confirmed cases were from rural areas of the federal capital.

To a query, Dr. Durrani said the ICT health department has already marked almost all possible breeding sites for mosquitoes in the federal capital and is continuously examining these sites to check breeding of dengue fever vector.

We have listed hot spots well in time and teams comprising sanitary inspectors, malaria inspectors and sanitary patrols are carrying out larvae identification and elimination campaign to avoid breeding of dengue fever vector, he said.

He added the health department has already started indoor and outdoor surveillance against dengue fever. To avoid dengue fever outbreak in the months to come, the health department would focus on activities including spraying and fogging in high risk areas and social mobilization and would work on strengthening surveillance against dengue fever vector, destruction of breeding sites, capacity building and solid waste management, he said.

He appealed general public to install wire gauze on the doors and windows, use mosquito nets when sleeping outside, wear full sleeves clothes and use mosquito repellent lotion during peak season of dengue fever transmission.

He added that dengue mosquitoes breed inside houses in damp conditions; discarded drums, vases, buckets, earthen jars, removed tyres and discarded items in open environment like water jars, coconut shells, tin, bottles, discarded boxes like that of cigarettes and juices, clay pots, bamboo ends, rubbish and other water containers. Solid waste should be discarded because these are the basic contributors in dengue fever transmission, said Dr. Durrani.