The health department of Dehradun has undertaken a massive drive for source reduction of dengue. Teams of Asha workers are visiting different colonies of the provisional state capital and checking houses for the larvae of Aedes mosquito which is the vector of dengue.
The district vector borne officer, Subhash Joshi said that on Saturday 296 teams of the health department checked 18316 households and found larvae of dengue in 89 houses.
“The teams checked 52792 containers out of whom 487 containers had larva which were decanted. People were asked to decant their open decanters and coolers and take preventive measures,’’ he said. The health department teams had checked 18316 households on Friday for dengue larvae.
Apart from source reduction exercise the health department has also undertaken an awareness drive in which people are explained the ways to prevent the menace of dengue.
Joshi said that the Aedes Aezypti, the vector of the disease strikes during the day time and breeds in clear water. “One should wear full sleeved cloths to prevent exposure to the mosquito bite and don’t allow water to get collected in their vicinity,’’ he said.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito. The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints. It is pertinent to mention here that last year the vector borne disease had affected more than 10,500 persons in Uttarakhand and had taken many lives.
In Dehradun district alone, the health department reported 4991 patients with six deaths. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic the health department is striving hard to ensure that the dengue does not assume epidemic proportions this year.