In the last two months, Coimbatore district has been witnessing a spurt in dengue cases.
Coimbatore saw eight confirmed dengue cases in January and six in February last year, the corresponding figures for this year was 145 (93 urban and 52 rural) and 70 (37 urban and 33 rural), said Deputy Director of Health Services R. Damodharan here on Monday.
A total of 460 confirmed dengue cases were recorded in 2012. Usually, dengue cases show an increase between August and November (rainy season).
The ‘non-seasonal’ increase was because of people storing large quantities of drinking water in open containers.Such unsafe storage of fresh water provides breeding space to both Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes that carry the dengue-causing virus and Aedes Albopictus that spreads the chikungunya virus.
The Department of Public Health has appointed 120 temporary mazdoors to carry out anti-larval measures.
Rapid Action Teams formed in the previous year to reach the areas of dengue outbreaks were being strengthened.
“People should drain the water containers once in seven days, which was the larval cycle (the time taken for a larvae to become adult mosquito), or keep them closed either using a lid or a cloth,” Dr. Damodharan said.
Highest number of cases have been reported from primary health centres in Somanur, Arasipalayam, Mayileripalayam, and Vagarayampalayam.
