Although concerns over dengue that claimed over 100 lives this year are on the wane, there seems to be no end to the mosquito menace as yet. With the rainy season going over and the onset of winter, the number of Culex mosquitoes, which usually breed and multiply in the dry season, have increased significantly in the capital. While the number of Aedes mosquitoes has been declining, these Culex mosquitoes have taken over and caused much concern to the citizens who are still living in fear because of the deadly mosquito-borne disease this year.
The Independent has talked to some residents and they have said the mosquito menace has not ended because of the sloppy efforts of the civic bodies which, in the past few months, have conducted their operations in a piecemeal manner.
Entomologists now say that as the number of Culex mosquitoes is increasing in the city, a healthy person can get filaria infection through female Culex mosquitoes. This disease causes swelling of hands and feet and frequent fever.
Kabirul Bashar, an entomologist at Jahangirnagar University’s Zoology department, told The Independent: “With each passing day in the dry season, the number of Culex mosquitoes will multiply if the city corporations don’t take effective measures.”
He said the civic bodies must carry out operations at larvae sites so that no new Culex mosquitoes can breed. The larvae sites or the breeding grounds of mosquitoes are usually found in the small and medium-sized water bodies, including drains, canals and ponds, he added.
Bashar said the civic bodies must begin their drive against these Culex mosquitoes immediately. “This is high time to control the Culex mosquito population before it gets out of control,” he said.
Several other experts also say that the civic bodies have not taken any visible initiative to control the Culex mosquitoes, which are responsible for the spread of the West Nile virus. They noted that the breeding season of the Culex mosquito begins in October.
The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has carried out special operations to control mosquitoes in addition to regular operations, but many of the city's residents complained that it was not working. In this situation, the DNCC has started another 10-days special program again on last Thursday.
The DNCC observed a weeklong ‘special program’ to kill Culex mosquitoes on 23 September of the last month. On that day, DNCC mayor Mayor M Atiqul Islam declared 8 of 54 wards
as being at very high risk from the
threat of Culex mosquitoes. He also declared launching a yearlong “Integrated Mosquito Management” work plan then.
After nearly one month of that programme, a 12-member team of the
entomologists led by Dr Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury identified the 626 breeding grounds of the Culex mosquito in the DNCC areas.
In such a situation on Thursday morning, DNCC launched a cleanliness drive to kill Culex mosquitoes as prevalence of the mosquitoes increases. However on Friday, Abir Ahmed, a 17-year-old schoolboy and resident of Mirpur-13 area complaint that after evening he cannot sits continuously more than one minute in one place in his house.
“I don’t know what the civic body is doing. My only concern is that without using mosquito repellent or stay inside mosquito net, I unable to study properly,” he said.
Until July, August and the second week of September this year, the prevalence of dengue was higher in the capital. During this time, two city corporations embarked on large-scale mosquito control action. City residence, however, say the programme seems to have declined since the third week of September even though two city corporations have said special initiatives have been taken to protect citizens from the Culex mosquitoes.
Talking to residents of at least eight areas, including Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Adabar, Lalbagh and Sutrapur in the last two days, it has been reported that the mosquito outbreak has increased significantly in the last two weeks.
Sabrina Majumdar, a resident of Duaripara road on Pallabi area, said she has seen a rise in the mosquito population over the last two weeks. “It’s very difficult to stay at home in the evening without using mosquito repellent or net,” she said. Jahanara Aktar Amena, a resident of Nrikel Bagan Mashjid Road in Jatrabari area, said: “The number of mosquitoes has increased recently. It’s very difficult to stay at home without mosquito coils and sprays. Moreover, I can’t use them all the time as they might harm my young children.”
Kawsar Ahmad, a resident of Nurjahan Road in Mohammadpur area, said he had not seen any attempt to control mosquitoes in his area in the last month. “In the middle of last year, the DNCC authorities sprayed insecticides in this area regularly. But I haven’t seen any mosquito fogging machine being used in this area over the last seven to eight weeks,” he said.
On the counterpart, Chief Health Officer of DSCC, Brig Gen Sharif Ahmed told The Independent that after a massive field survey to identify the breeding points of mosquitoes they have already started a crush program on last Sunday.
“Our team will conduct the drive in two rounds. Workers are working in two parts. In the morning (8am to 11am), they are doing larva sighting and in the evening (3.30 to till sunset) they are spraying medicines through fogging machines in every wards of DSCC,” he said.
“After completing one round they will conduct the drive in same manner in the second round. We cannot totally eradicate mosquitoes, so we are trying to control it,” the official added.
Chief health officer of DNCC, Brig. Gen. Mominur Rahman Mamun said, DNCC have started a special drive from Thursday (Nov. 21) from Mohammadpur Ikbal road. “Cleaning the water hyacinth, spraying medicine, cleanliness program everything will be included in that drive to tackle the mosquito population,” he said.
The drive will be conducted to kill Culex mosquitoes in a continuation of the combing operation to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, he added.