Dengue larvae found on premises of 604 house owners in Panipat, notices served

Tribune News Service

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, June 28

To prevent the possible spike of dengue mosquitoes this season, the District Health Department has intensified the source reduction programme in the district. The Health Department has served notices on 604 house owners after they found dengue larvae on their premises. The Health Department has released Gambusia fish in 285 ponds so far.

Source reduction programme

The source reduction programme is for the elimination of breeding sites or sources of dengue mosquitoes. The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes breed in clean water bodies such as tyres, freeze trays, coolers, flowerpots and disposal items on roofs or any other open space where water accumulates. The teams conduct checking of these sites to stop the breeding of mosquitoes and development of larvae.

A total of 316 dengue cases were reported in Panipat last year. Taking a lesson from the previous year’s experience, the Health Department has started the source reduction programme prior to the monsoon season this year.

As per Health Department sources, Panipat is prone to vector-borne diseases. However, no malaria case was detected last year but 316 cases of dengue and 13 cases of chikungunya were reported in the district. Maximum dengue cases were reported in the Panipat city area.

As per the data, a total of 496 cases were reported in 2017, 133 in 2018, four cases in 2019, 272 in 2020, 287 in 2021 and 296 dengue cases in 2022.

Two cases of malaria and dengue have been reported in the district so far. One dengue case was reported at Goyla Khurd village, where a 10 months old child was found positive, while another case was reported at Chulkana village. Jasmer Singh, a health official, said the source reduction programme was launched in the district and a total of 316 teams visited over six lakh houses in the last two months in urban and rural areas of the district and found dengue larvae in around 807 houses.

The teams checked 80,870 coolers and found larvae in 98 coolers, they also checked 2.66 lakh water tanks and found larvae in 117 tanks. The teams checked 76,889 haudis and found larvae in 92, 1.99 lakh tyres and freeze trays were checked and larvae were found in 37. The teams checked 5.67 lakh containers and flower pots and found larvae in 455. There are 349 ponds in the district of which 285 are permanent ponds while 64 ponds get formed during the rainy season. The department has released Gambusia fish in all 285 permanent ponds so far.

Gambusia fish feed on the larvae of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, thereby checking the spread of the disease. Dr Sunil Sanduja, Deputy Civil Surgeon and Nodal Officer for Dengue and Malaria, said last year a total of 316 Dengue cases were reported but this year, we have started the source reduction campaign in advance. The notices have been served on 604 persons after larvae was found on their premises, Dr Sanduja said.

Teams are continuously conducting source reduction programme and also spreading awareness among people about the vector-borne disease, so that it can be stopped before it spreads, the Deputy Civil Surgeon said.

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