Fear of another outbreak of dengue fever is in the air even as district health authorities are conducting drives to sensitise people on the ways in which mosquitoes breed in their backyards.
Reports suggest that there has been a spurt in fever cases across several divisions of the Kochi Corporation, but all these fevers have not been categorised as dengue as sample testing is done in only a few cases. In the first three days of December, 30 cases of suspected dengue fever were reported from the district, of which 10 were confirmed and 20 were suspected.
Many areas in Gandhi Nagar such as Udaya Colony, Karithala, P&T Quarters fall in the high risk zone. Other risky areas in the corporation are Elamakkara, Vaduthala, Pachalam, Padivattam, Vennala, Kaloor, and Kadavanthra.
While the campaign is already on against dengue fever, it will be intensified on Thursday by including more people in the localities.
According to Additional District Medical Officer S. Sreedevi, mosquito breeding sources exist not only in household backyards, but also inside homes. Money plants growing in small containers of water act as a veritable source for breeding mosquitoes. It is important that every week the containers lying around the house that collect rain water get emptied. Or else, these become breeding sources for mosquitoes, she said.
In an earlier outbreak reported in the corporation area, the Health authorities had deployed various voluntary organisations in an extensive campaign about three weeks ago in a massive campaign. Unless the people make it a habit to clean up the premises every week, the threat of dengue fever would persist, she said.
The only way to curb dengue fever was to keep the mosquito population under control, said Dr. Sreedevi. Residents’ associations and other voluntary agencies along with the Health departments of the district and corporation would take up a campaign to destroy the breeding sources of mosquitoes.
