People’s participation must for dengue control: Health experts

Patiala, October 9

The deadly dengue has spread its tentacles in the city, despite the Health Department’s efforts from Friday Dry Day campaign to various outreach programmes starting since March. Health experts said lack of community participation was to be blamed for inflated dengue cases.

They said the dengue mosquito, aedes aegypti, was a domestic mosquito that bred commonly inside houses. Therefore, dengue control was not possible without people’s participation, they said.

A health team on Tuesday visited Partap Nagar and found that people were reluctant to cooperate. The number of cases is expected to cross last year’s figure of 2,432 cases. Until Tuesday evening, 950 persons were tested positive for the disease in the district.

Dr Gurmeet, District Epidemiologist, said, “Even after so many awareness campaigns, we have found that most people are not serious.”

Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh, said, “Dengue larvae take seven days to become an adult. Therefore, if one doesn’t let the water stagnate, the disease can be controlled.”

The Health Department and the Municipal Corporation have already issued 512 challans to residents where mosquito larvae were found breeding. — TNS