BENGALURU: Mosquito-borne diseases are increasing in the city, with 51 cases being reported on Thursday alone. June is generally observed as ‘malaria control month’ by the Health Department every year and July is observed as anti-dengue month.
Dengue cases increased from 541 in the first week of May to 1,425 till Thursday. Chikungunya saw a spike from 132 in the first week of May to 284 till Thursday. As many as 21 fresh cases of chikungunya were confirmed on Thursday. The silver lining is the fact that there have been no deaths in the state.
IEC (Information, Education, Communication) activities are in full swing, said Dr B G Prakash Kumar, deputy director, National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme, Karnataka. Auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM), male health workers and accredited social health activists (ASHA) are encouraging people to use mosquito nets when sleeping outdoors due to the heat, and domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) are spraying anti-larvicidal liquid like Temephos around flower pots, tanks and other places with water stagnation.
“ASHA workers are part of the village-level sanitation committee. They are responsible for ensuring cleanliness and hygiene in their respective villages. We have one ASHA worker for a population of every thousand, one ANM for 5,000, and one male health worker for 10,000,” he said.
Dr M N Lokesh, Chief Health Officer, public health, BBMP, said, “The 132 wards in core areas have three DBCs each and while 66 wards in the outer zones have four DBCs each. They divide each ward into seven parts and cover the ward in seven days. Since the temperature is between 26oCelsius and 30o C, the weather is not conducive for breeding.”
Dengue
Transmitted by bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with dengue virus
Symptoms are high fever, headache, rash and muscle and joint pain
Chikungunya
Transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes species mosquito
Symptoms usually begin 3-7 days after being bitten by the mosquito
Most common symptoms are fever and joint pain
Other symptoms include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash
Malaria
Transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito
Chills, fever and sweating, occurring a few weeks after being bitten