Intermittent rain is threatening to take the dengue fever case load in the district to explosive proportions as short spells of rain followed by sunny days are very conducive to the breeding of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the vector primarily responsible for transmitting dengue fever in urban areas.
Heavy rainfall will wash away the breeding grounds of the vectors and reduce the vector density, while intermittent rain will give time for the vectors to lay eggs, which will hatch out in the sun, entomologists point out.
State Health officials are dogged by another worry—the alarming manner in which dengue fever cases have been spreading into new geographic terrains.
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Till two days ago, more than 70 per cent of the cases in the district were being reported from areas within the city Corporation limits. But now more and more cases are being reported from the suburbs.
Of the 14 confirmed cases of dengue reported on Friday in the district, all, except four, cases are from the rural areas and that too the Vilappil block.
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A special alert has been sounded in Vilappil block for health workers to intensify source reduction and other control measures as the 10 dengue cases were reported from Balaramapuram, Pallichal, Maranellore, Malayinkeezh and Kalliyoor, all under Vilappil block.
Suspected cases
Apart from the confirmed cases, 22 suspected cases of dengue have also been reported from various parts of the district.
As many as 1,293 new fever cases were reported from the district on Friday.
A total of 175 suspected cases and 140 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported from the district so far this June.
Health officials said that though several places in the city such as Kalippankulam, Manacaud, Jagathy, Vazhuthacaud, Chala, Pettah, Vanchiyoor, Sasthamangalam, Nanthencode, Muttada, and Chakka were all visited by health workers following reports about large number of fever cases in these areas, only 22 fever cases and one suspected dengue case could be identified.
On Sunday, squads of Health Department—including anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and health workers—will visit homes in various parts of the district to check vector breeding in households and to give necessary awareness to the public of the precautions that needed to be taken to prevent vector breeding.
The inspections will be repeated on two more consecutive Sundays.
More awareness needed to be generated among the public of the importance of identifying and destroying vector-breeding grounds around households as very often breeding grounds of Aedes aegypti are found right inside houses itself.
Review meeting
On Sunday, Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar will be convening a meeting in the city to review and discuss the plan of action to contain the spread of communicable diseases in the district.
The District Collector, MLAs and district officials of all government departments will be attending the meeting, which will be held at Government Guest house, Thycaud, at 4 p.m.