Both of these FCHVs have been mobilized by the District Public Health Office (DPHO), as part of it's detect and destroy dengue (DDD) campaign, launched to avert dengue outbreak in the district. The district has remained on high alert for dengue for the past five years after loosing six lives to the dangerous dengue fever. This year, lab reports have confirmed that of the total 1,678 test samples collected from various hospitals across the district, 119 samples tested positive for the fever. The finding has put the district on high alert and has launched the DDD campaign vigorously to stop the mosquito from breeding and subsequently the spreading the deadly fever.
Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. It is an acute illness of sudden onset that usually follows a benign course with symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph nodes and rash. The presence of fever, rash, and headache is particularly characteristic of dengue. Other signs of dengue fever include bleeding gums, severe pain behind the eyes, and red palms and soles. This can affect but tends to be more severe in people with compromised immune systems.
Like, Tamang and Dawadi, scores of FCHVs and volunteers have been trained and mobilized by the DPHO across the district to identify breeding habitats of the Aedes, detect and destroy its eggs, and raise awareness among the locals about it - to ensure that they do not offer breeding grounds for this mosquito.
These FCHVs went to every house in the Lions Chowk - Belchowk area and scorched the area thoroughly for the habitats. Their mission remained highly successful. Within two hours they visited 26 houses of which 13 households were being used as breeding habitat. 44 containers containing the Aedes eggs were destroyed from these households.
Besides the households, both of them were shocked to find that water containers filled with stagnant water at the Central Secondary School of Bharatpur were full of mosquito's eggs. "We were shocked to find dengue larva and pupa in the water container. We immediately held discussion with the school administration, made them aware of how such negligence could seriously compromise the health condition of the students and teachers," Tamang said. "The water in the container kept reserved for cleaning purpose was stagnated and therefore used by the mosquito to lay its eggs. The school authorities immediately threw the water and covered the area."
Both of these FCHVs briefed the teachers and the students about the dengue fever, its causes and symptoms along with measures to prevent the spread of the fever. "We will be aware of not letting puddles, water containers and other areas to collect stagnated water and assist in controlling the spread of the dengue mosquito. We'll keep school premises clean and destroy any habitat of the mosquito found around," Rajesh Sharma principal of the school, said.
This is not the first year that both of these FCHVs are making such rounds in the area. In the previous years also, they had made such rounds and from that experience they knew where they should be looking for the Aedes. A furniture factory in the area and a scrap collection center were found to be densely populated with the mosquito's egg last year. This year also the story was same - they found abundance of these breeding habitats in both of these places. "Furniture factory and scrap collection center provides favorable place for breeding as it contains spots that are moist and accumulate sufficient stale water. Such spots provide favorable conditions for these mosquitoes to lay eggs," Duwadi said while explaining the greater prevalence rate of the mosquito in these locations.
While at these locations, both of them were joined by Ram Kumar KC, vector control inspector at the DPHO, Chitwan. The team was surrounded by the furniture factory owner, worker and some other people from the vicinity. In midst of these onlookers, KC pointed to the eggs of the mosquito and explained how they can be easily detected and destroyed. "As the mosquito eggs are visible, they can be easily detected and destroyed. People know that not destroying them can bring dengue fever to their own home, but still they show carelessness," KC said while the FCHVs destroyed the habitat.
Dengue cases cross 2,000 in Chitwan
Carelessness to check for moist places that can provide appropriate place for the Aedes aegypti to breed and destroying them has been an important factor in sustaining the possibility of dengue mosquito's prevalence in the district, despite running DDD campaigns for around half a decade, KC said while informing that this year alone more than 100 volunteers were participating in the three day campaign that will end on Thursday.
"If we are able to destroy the pupa and larva of mosquitoes now, and take precautions that we don't provide such breeding habitats for them in the days ahead, there will be less chance of dengue outbreak," KC claimed while sharing that in the past locals were found to be not taking precaution and initiatives to destroy dengue mosquitoes around them once the campaign was over.
Aedes can breed in a teaspoon of water, and their eggs have been found in tin cans, beer bottles, jugs, flower vases, cups, tanks, ponds, guava trees, more than any other place, perhaps, Aedes thrive in the moist, hidden gullies of used automobile tires, vehicle garages and hotels and other shallow and moist places in tropical and sub tropical climatic region. It takes around a week for the egg of an Aedes to grow into a mosquito.
