News
Showery days make dengue threat higher
Checking out a potential mosquito breeding spot
With the onset of the monsoon, health officials are calling for action to minimise the spread of insect-borne diseases such as dengue.
“Unlike COVID, we can stop the spread of this illness by controlling mosquito breeding places,” National Dengue Control Programme Consultant Community Physician, Dr. Shilanthi Seneviratne, said. “Dengue is again on the rise due to the unremitting rain. Twenty areas in the Western Province have been identified as Priority High Risk areas,” she said. Colombo has most of the cases. The disease is also spreading across the Kalutara, Gampaha, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Matale and Kandy districts.
Dr. Seneviratne warned people to be alert for symptoms: if a fever continued for more than three days it could be dengue, particularly if a high fever was accompanied by severe headache, nausea, vomiting, or swollen glands.
She advised people to seek medical assistance and take medicines prescribed by a qualified doctor rather than getting medications from a pharmacy. Dengue patients are advised to take paracetamol but not non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen which, in this case, could cause severe bleeding.
Since January 20, 500 dengue cases and 10 deaths have been reported. In all of last year, 31,139 cases and 35 dengue deaths were reported.
The Environmental Police Division is working jointly with the Colombo Municipal Council to clean mosquito breeding grounds.
Public Health Inspectors’ (PHI) Union President Upul Rohana said the prevailing on-and-off rainfall pattern was the ideal condition for mosquito breeding. He said that due to the COVID lockdown, public and private sites had been closed for a long time and there was a high possibility that dengue mosquito breeding places had proliferated in those sites.
A school premises being fogged, amidst plans to reopen on Thursday. Pix by Indika Handuwala and Rekha Tharangani