Weekly Dengue Control programs for ministries, a must

by Carol Aloysius

The Health Ministry will introduce Dengue Control programs every week starting this month for Ministries..

"We have already informed all Government Ministries concerned that they should conduct a separate Dengue Control week islandwide and ensure that there is full participation from their employees and the public in each district as well", Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Paba Palihawadana told the Sunday Observer. She said it would be an ongoing program to eradicate all breeding sites for the dengue carrying vector as the number of suspected cases of dengue was now on an upward trend.

In the past two months of this year, the number of suspected cases of dengue fever reported to the Epidemiology Unit from all districts was 5,878 according to the latest statistics. The highest number has been reported from the Colombo district, Dr Palihawadana said.

Around 39.45 percent of the reported cases were from the Western Province.

"It is to prevent the numbers from rising further that we decided to introduce Dengue Control programs islandwide. It will be handled by various Ministries, as the disease is spread by the Aeges Egypti

mosquito which bites mainly in the wee hours of the morning till around 9 a.m. and again from 3 to around 6 p.m.

School children are vulnerable to dengue fever because of their low immunity and the fact that they are usually targeted by the dengue vector for their blood feed, Epidemiology Unit sources said.

The decision to introduce BTI from Cuba is still under discussion, Dr. Palihawadana said.