Mosquito-borne diseases - dengue and malaria - continue to rock Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The last few months saw seven dengue and 13 malaria cases being reported in Meerut. With the dengue and malaria menace intensifying in Meerut, the district malaria department has stepped up efforts to inspect residential and commercial properties to find areas where water is getting accumulated, turning to be a probable breeding ground of mosquitoes.
As many as 4,233 houses have been inspected so far this year in the district of which mosquito larvae were found in 191 houses. As many as 15,232 containers were inspected and 221 containers were found with larvae.
The district malaria department has constituted 30 teams – 18 in urban and 12 in rural areas — to conduct fogging and check containers for larvae.
“As many as seven dengue cases and 13 malaria cases have been confirmed in Meerut so far. In this backdrop, we have intensified our inspections and hence, made 30 teams which conduct fogging, larvae spray and container surveys in the district. This helps in destroying larvae and prevent further mosquito-borne diseases,” a TOI report quoted Satya Prakash, Meerut district malaria officer, as saying.
The health department, municipal corporation, panchayati raj department, horticulture department, women and child development department, education department, and others have been informed to take steps to generate awareness about communicable diseases and measures to prevent them from spreading.
“Continuous fogging and anti-larvae spray activities are being conducted to see that vector-borne diseases do not spread in the district. The malaria department has also identified certain areas which had reported more cases in the previous years like Partapur, Jagriti Vihar, Parikshitgarh, Hastinapur, Bhawanpur and others,” the report quoted Satya Prakash as saying.
In 2018, as many as 53 cases of malaria and 153 dengue cases were registered in the Meerut district.
Dengue and malaria are spread by bite of mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water. It is therefore advisable to avoid any accumulation of water in the neighbourhood. Initial symptoms of these mosquito-borne diseases include fever, rash, vomiting, nausea, joint and muscle pain.
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