This was the conclusion of a recent field study conducted in the municipalities by the public health office, Chitwan. The office teams found dengue mosquitoes and larvae thriving in every nook and corner. The team found dengue larva and pupas in the vicinity of 3,000 out of the 26,000 houses visited. [break]
Had the locals followed our instructions and destroyed these fatal mosquitoes and eliminated their breeding places then the outcome of our report would have been better, informed Ram KC, vector control inspector at the office.
"We have been telling them to wash away stagnant water instantly or use larvicides and keep the area clean, but they haven´t taken our instructions seriously. If they continue to ignore the instructions then dengue outbreak could happen anytime," said KC.
"Dengue is found mostly in city areas rather than rural localities. For this reason also, locals in the dengue mosquito infested areas should be very cautious about the situation," added KC.
During the recent study conducted by the office, the officials had visited a total of 26,306 houses in the two municipalities and mosquito infestation was found in and around 2,859 houses. More than 200 public health staffers were involved in teh three-day study.
"Out of the 18,291 houses in Bharatpur, dengue mosquitoes were found in and around 1,821 houses. In Ratnanagar Municipality, 706 out of 8,415 houses were infested with the mosquitoes," said KC.
Only two years back, a dengue outbreak in Chitwan and other districts had claimed 10 lives. Four among the dead were from Chitwan.
According to DPHO, in the last one year more than 5 dozen locals have contracted dengue in Chitwan district.
"Mostly the bus park areas, motorcycle garages the roadside areas near the human settlements are infested with dengue larva and pupas due to prevalence of stagnant pools of water," said KC.
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