Dip in mercury level has turned environment unfavourable for mosquitoes to breed

Kathmandu, October 16

Mosquito-borne dengue disease, which spread across the country in the past few months, has started declining. With the dip in temperature the environment is no more favourable for mosquitoes to breed, according to doctors.

“Even as the number of dengue cases have been declining, a few cases are still being reported from Kaski, Chitwan and Kathmandu,” said Bibek Kumar Lal, director at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Department of Health Services.

According to Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku some 400 dengue patients had visited the hospital early September. The number has now declined to less than 100 cases per day.

“A decline in temperature, end of monsoon and measures of intervention adopted for dengue control have contributed in lessening the number of dengue cases,” said Lal.

“There has been a decline in the number of dengue cases. With decline in the temperature activities of mosquitoes have lessened,” said Anup Bastola, chief consultant, Tropical Medicine at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital.

“In the system of EDCD lower number of dengue cases have been reported in recent time,” said Lal. The division however is yet to make public its latest data.

“Rainwater collected in bottle caps, plastic bottles and neglected vessels in the surrounding has now dried up,” said Lal.

The country has witnessed unusually high number of dengue cases this year. Dengue cases numbered 10,993 in 68 distr icts in the country till September 30, since July 17 this year, according to EDCD.

Nuumber of dengue cases had shot up by over 66 per cent across the country, with the disease spreading rapidly in urban areas including Pokhara, Chitwan and Kathmandu last month.

The dengue virus is transmitted to humans when female Aedes aegypti mosquito bites a person. It is highly likely to bite early in the morning or before dusk. Though the number of dengue cases has started going down precautions should still be taken, said doctors.

“We need to work from now on to destroy possible breeding places for mosquito so that we can limit the number of dengue cases next year,” Lal said.

Climate conditions, unhygienic environment, unplanned urban settlement and rapid urbanisation lead to increased mosquito breeding, according to Lal.