Mosquito-borne diseases loom large on city

Dengue cases reported in Hydeabad

Hyderabad: The threat of outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases looms large on Telangana State, particularly on the state capital. Eight dengue cases were reported in a city government hospital on Monday putting the Medical and Health Department on alert.

In the last three months, as many as 22 dengue cases out of 45 in the State were reported in the State capital alone. The officials said that the delay in the removal of mosquito breeding centres in colonies, lakes and ponds, particularly in slums and neglect in conducting fogging and spraying operations were the main reason for the outbreak of dengue case during this monsoon season.

The officials said that the lack of coordination between Health Department and the GHMC were also main reason for not controlling the vector-borne diseases in the city. Speaking to The Hans India, Dr G Srinivas, Joint Director, Epidemics, said that 70 per cent of diseases were water-borne. For the last 100 days, as many as 93 malaria, 45 dengue and 20 chikungunya cases were reported, he said.

Experts said that fogging should be carried in urban areas along with indoor residual spraying and ant-larval operation at ponds and lakes with Gambusia fishes. Dr Shyam Sunder Kasapa, president, Indian Medical Association, Telangana, said the action plan was on paper only and at ground level there was no activity.

According to Dr S Prabhavathi, Additional Director of Health Department, said that dengue was the man-made disease and 100 per cent preventable. A 24x7 dedicated epidemic cell with two people was set up at Director of Health office in Hyderabad and cells at district level are also monitoring the epidemics.