Operation 'search and kill' mosquitoes begins

CHITWAN, Nov 13: In a bid to control the spread of dengue in Chitwan, Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) has teamed up with Nepal Army to “search and kill” mosquitoes in every household, Chandeshwor Prasad Yadav, vector control inspector at the division said. Apart from Chitwan, similar campaign will be launched in Rupandehi district on Saturday.

EDCD decided to start door-to-door campaign to raise awareness about dengue after district headquarter-based efforts to contain the disease failed. [break]

A total of 390 people, including Nepal Army personnel and health volunteers, will work on the program from Saturday. The decision to involve army came after an all-party meeting at District Disaster Management Committee where battalion chief of Bharatpur barrack decided to send 70 soldiers to combat the disease.

Initially, the team will visit each household in Bharatpur and Ratnanagar municipality and clean wastes and kill Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, District Public Health Office (DPHO), Chitwan said.

During the week-long campaign, awareness programs will also be organized in rural areas, Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, chief of DPHO said. “We had to initiate door-to-door campaign after a program that focused on specific places of the city failed to control spread of the disease,” Shrestha said.

The team will visit each household and make people aware people about dengue epidemic, its control and prevention measures. Ram KC of Vector Control, DPHO, said that they´ll make sure that places where waste and stagnant water exists will be cleaned up. Around 18 people will be deployed in every ward for the campaign, KC said.

Total patients tested: 2516

Dengue positive: 520

Leptospirosis fever: 69

H1N1 positive: 24

Confirmed killed by dengue: 3

Killed by fever: 18

Doctors said epidemic that was confined to the city has spread in rural areas as well. “Chitwan Medical College is teeming with dengue patients. A majority of them are from rural areas like Mangalpur, Gitanagar, and Parsa Bhandara,” Sheetal Adhikari, a doctor at the college said.

Of the 2,516 people admitted at various hospitals in Chitwan, 520 have tested positive for dengue. Likewise, of the 550 patients who had been admitted on suspicion of Leptospirosis fever, 69 tested positive while 24 tested positive for H1N1, DPHO said.

According to DPHO, three people have died in Chitwan from dengue. Prior to making the number of dengue deaths public, the DPHO said 18 people died of fever resulting from various ailments in Chitwan. Majority of the patients suffering from dengue are between the ages of 15 - 49.