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School dengue checks reveal high risk levels
View(s):Nearly half the schools checked during National Mosquito Control Week now underway had potential dengue mosquito breeding places and 5 per cent actually had mosquito larvae, officials said yesterday, saying these figures are of particular concern. National Mosquito Control Week, which commenced on Wednesday and will end this coming Tuesday (September 16), is a precautionary mechanism for the North East monsoonal rains due soon.
“We expect a dengue peak between November and December and the inspection and cleaning program has to be sustained,” Dr. Nayana De Alwis, a health official from the National Dengue Control Unit said. The Epidemiology Department said 395 schools were visited throughout the country, and 191 (48.35 per cent) of them were found to have potential dengue mosquito breeding places while mosquito larvae were found in 20 (5.06 percent) such schools.
Altogether, 11,620 institutes, both government and private were visited across the island and 4,879 (41.99 per cent) of them were declared potential dengue mosquito breeding places; mosquito larvae were found in 1,069 of these institutions, resulting in 374 prosecutions being filed. “We were able to cover 6780 premises in Colombo,” said Colombo Chief Medical Officer Dr. A. Wijayamuni. “We found 906 potential breeding places – that is, an approximate 13 per cent. This is significantly high. We also found 144 mosquito breeding places – that is, approximately 2 per cent.
“We have to reduce the number of mosquito breeding places to 1 per cent or less. When these figures go up, the mosquito density goes up and proportionately the number of patients also increases.
“My major concern is schools: we visited 109 schools in Colombo. Twelve such schools had dengue mosquito breeding places while 86 schools had potential mosquito breeding grounds. This is a dangerous situation,” he warned. Several schools, universities, hostels, pre-schools and higher educational institutions were visited on Wednesday, and government and private institutions and houses were covered on Thursday. The teams, comprising health officials and members of the forces, inspected other public places and public drains on Friday.
Factories and houses were visited yesterday. The Director of the Epidemiological Unit of the Ministry of Health Dr. Paba Palihawadana said that in some areas visited by inspection teams the local government bodies were “not very co-operative”.