Solid waste management: key to avoid dengue fever outbreak in future

Islamabad

The eggs laid down by mosquitoes ‘aedes aegypti’ and ‘aedes albopictus’, the vectors for dengue fever, could not be checked from hatching after three months or so and if we want to avoid dengue fever outbreak in future, it is time to take special measures for not giving eggs favourable conditions to survive.

It is time to remove heaps of garbage and unnecessary water accumulations properly from the region to safeguard population from a more severe dengue fever outbreak that would be with more chances of hemorrhagic manifestations as the disease is expected to re-appear in the months from August to November in 2016.

The mosquitoes’ eggs do not need a huge quantity of water for keeping them alive as even a little moist is sufficient to keep them hatch-able for months. That is why it is believed that solid waste management is a key to avoid dengue fever outbreak.

District Health Officer Islamabad Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani who is an epidemiologist expressed this while talking to ‘The News’ on Thursday on what is needed to be done during the off season for prevention and control of dengue fever in the year 2016.

He said the heaps of garbage and water accumulation in outdoor environment and moist places inside homes and offices would turn out to be potential breeding sites for breeding of mosquitoes’ larvae after rains in March as the eggs would be hatched on finding favourable temperature.

It is important that the containers placed by the concerned government authorities in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi may also serve as ideal places for mosquitoes for laying down eggs as under these containers and on their surfaces, there remains moist round the year.

Dr. Durrani said that to remove eggs from the containers containing water and waste both inside homes and in outdoor environment, their surfaces should be scrubbed and dry properly at least after every week.

It is important that during the peak season for transmission of dengue fever from August to November, the concerned authorities in both the federal and the provincial governments elaborate a lot to prevent outbreak in future but practically a lot is yet to be done for the purpose as one can easily witness heaps of garbage in almost all localities of the region.

When asked, Dr. Durrani said stopping eggs of mosquitoes from hatching should be top priority of both the government authorities and individuals to check possible outbreak of the infection in 2016.

It is much difficult to check spread of dengue fever after breeding of larvae of ‘aedes’ mosquitoes and the off season is the most suitable time to work for checking hatching of mosquitoes’ eggs and breeding of larvae, said Dr. Durrani.