News
Dengue fighting squads rejoice at sharp drop in cases
Dengue cases have declined sharply this month compared to the corresponding period in the past six years, much to the relief of health officials who claim the drop is due to the success of mosquito control methods adopted by the Health Ministry.
In addition, statistics released by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry indicate a drop in the total number of dengue cases reported during these past few months, making it the lowest number of cases reported since 2011 for this period.
Health officials say awareness programmes and cleaning up operations of mosquito-breeding spots like these have been successful in bringing down the number of dengue cases. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe
Officials acknowledged the weather could have made a difference. Dengue cases are usually down during periods of heavy showers and droughts while numbers go up during periods of scattered rains. A total of 17,486 dengue cases were confirmed this year while the years 2014, 2013 and 2012 showed 24,169 cases, 19,028 cases and 24,073 cases respectively.
According to officials there are two peak seasons for dengue cases: the first from May to the end of July, the second from November to January of the following year. “This is the first time in six years that we are experiencing a drastic reduction in the reported number of cases for July. The figures are so low that, in fact we cannot call it a peak season,” Epidemiology Unit Head Dr. Paba Palihawadana told the Sunday Times.
She said there was about a 50 per cent drop compared to the same period last year.
A total of 1068 cases have been reported this month.
The number of deaths due to dengue has also reduced to 32 from the 67 reported last year, Dr. Palihawadana said.
“We conducted several emergency dengue programmes in collaboration with the Ministries of Defence, Environment, Education, Public Administration and local government authorities. Together we visited several houses, religious places, state-owned and private institutions. This helped to a great extent to curb mosquito breeding areas,” a senior health official said.
Apart from this, other mosquito control methods such as fogging, collecting containers and spraying had helped in the fight, the official added. “We took legal action where it was needed and it must be added that the community helped us tremendously in the process,” the official said.
“Our main focus was the Western Province, primarily due to the high number of cases reported from the area, but we were also vigilant in Jaffna, Kurunegala and Kegalle areas,” he said. Meanwhile the annual allocation of Rs. 200 million for dengue prevention programmes in Colombo city has borne fruit, officials say, with a 65 per cent drop in the number of reported cases this month.
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) reported 136 cases for this month compared with the 332 reported in July last year.
CMC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni said the main reason for the drop in the number of cases was the “strategic dengue programmes that were carried out in the past 14 months”.
“It was a new way of tackling the problem and it has worked,” Dr. Wijayamuni said, adding, that the older method of outdoor fogging was replaced with indoor fogging which aims at destroying the female mosquito that carries the disease. Apart from this the CMC also carried out residual spraying in pilot dengue areas around the city.
The CMC also addressed the mosquito breeding problem at construction sites and abandoned land by involving the construction firm managers, engineers, technical operators and landowners in cleaning up the areas. “We also organised several workshops for these people and advised them on the legal liability they could face. We believed that this tactic was much more effective than taking these individuals to courts,” Dr. Wijayamuni said.
