GUWAHATI, Aug 29 - Soon, presence of mosquito breeding sources in your house may invite fines.
Noting the perennial outbreak of dengue and other mosquito-transmitted diseases in Kamrup (Metro), health authorities are pursuing with the Guwahati Municipal Corporation to implement a set of �civic by-laws� to check the mosquito menace in the city.
�We have been prodding the GMC to implement a set of by-laws for the last couple of years. We have renewed the plea again recently. The GMC says it is in the process of formulating it,� Dr K Nath, Assistant Director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Assam, told The Assam Tribune.
�The idea is to reduce the mosquito breeding sources. The by-laws will empower authorities (inspection teams of health officials) to impose fine on owners of houses where mosquito breeding sources are found. New buildings must also make provisions for proper mosquito control,� Dr Nath said, adding that such by-laws are in force in places like Mumbai, Delhi and Goa.
Meanwhile, dengue cases in Kamrup (M) district have touched the 500 mark this year till today. Two persons, including one in the city, have died due to the disease so far.
Health officials said fogging is being done in vulnerable areas like Lal Ganesh, Shantinagar, Rukminigaon, Bhaskarnagar, Kahilipara, Gandhi Basti etc.
Assam witnessed a record 4,526 cases of dengue in 2013, which had shaken the State health authorities. However, the number of reported cases was 85 in 2014 and 1,076 in 2015.
Though dengue cases are reported after the rainy season, this year incidences were unexpectedly reported from the month of July itself when temperatures were favourable for proliferation of the Aedes mosquito. Malaria and Japanese encephalitis (JE) are reported mainly in the rainy season.
�Compared to the previous few years, cases of dengue were three to four times more in the month of July this year. Normally, the incidences are reported during August-October,� a health department official said.
�However, the number of cases could have been much more. The virus has spread early and so a lot of people got immunised naturally. We expect the cases will come down by September,� the official said.
A team from the Lahowal-based Regional Medical Research Centre, a Central government institution, is expected to arrive in the city soon to collect samples and conduct serological typing to identify the strain category of the dengue virus detected in patients this year.
Health department officials have also rubbished the notion that the Aedes mosquito breeds in all types of stagnant water. �This type of mosquito is behaviourally very different from other mosquitoes. They breed in clean stagnant water,� they said.
Besides fogging, paramedical staff of the health department have also launched awareness drives in vulnerable areas where dengue cases have been reported in the city.
NVBDCP officials have found presence of Aedes mosquito larvae in at least five to seven per cent of the houses surveyed in the city.
