JOIN USDengue cases rising alarmingly
The number of dengue cases in the City has increased threefold with over 500 fresh cases reported in July and August till date.
As per the BBMP's Health department's records, 744 cases were positive for dengue in the City since January 2013.
The BBMP health officials say July, August and September are the peak months for mosquito breeding and, it is quite natural that dengue positive cases have increased in July and August. As per statistics, the BBMP recorded 13 positive cases in January, seven in February, eight in March, nine in April, 39 in May, 139 in June, and peaked in July recording 476 and 53 cases in August till date. However, no deaths have been reported.
Despite fogging and spraying being carried out by the BBMP, the numbers are only increasing, thanks to the public indifference to maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in their surroundings which is allowing mosquitoes to breed in fresh water. The Rajarajeshwarinagar Assembly constituency had the highest number of mosquito breeding places in the City, wherein of the 1,17,692 houses surveyed, 14,121 breeding places of Aedes mosquito larvae were found. This includes cement tanks, earthern pots, tyres and barrels.
Larvae elimination
The BBMP has carried out larvicide on these containers and eliminated the larvae manually. Of the 2,89,670 houses surveyed in the City, over 31,198 places were found to have had mosquito larvae.
Source reduction activities by the BBMP began only in the month of June wherein nursing students were roped in to visit households to create awareness about dengue and its causes.
Although the BBMP and the State Health department are considering only samples tested from government laboratory as number of positive dengue cases, in reality the numbers are much more.
A BBMP official said that though many private hospital have their own lab set up to test blood samples, many of them are sending the samples to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), the designated government laboratory.
The official said that 60 per cent of the positive cases are from private hospitals and the remaining 40 per cent from government hospitals and health centres.
* Over 500 fresh cases were reported in July and August till date
* 744 cases were tested positive for dengue since January
* Rajarajeshwarinagar Assembly constituency recorded the highest number of mosquito breeding places.
*Of the 2,89,670 houses surveyed in the City, 31,198 were found to have had mosquito larvae