Dengue outbreak cannot be tackled by pesticides: Experts

Entomologists and urban experts have said that fogging and spraying pesticides is not enough to tackle the Dengue outbreak and it is possible only by destroying the Aedes breeding habitats through regular monitoring.

The experts also said that in their research, it was found that the Aedes mosquito does not only bite in the daytime. They bite at night too. 

They suggested for allocation of a research fund for mosquito control in the city corporation budget along with the activities of the corporations and conduct drives as per the research findings.

"It is difficult to control Aedes mosquito by using pesticides only, rather source destruction is the most effective and best way to control Aedes," Entomologist Kabirul Bashar said in his keynote paper presented at a dialogue programme on 'Dengue Outbreak: Our Duties' on Wednesday at Dhaka Reporter's Unity in the capital.   

He also said that all the Aedes mosquitos are not a vector of the Dengue virus. But it is not possible to detect and separate them for control. That's why the best way is to destroy the Aedes breeding grounds.

"Effective community vector management is essential for Aedes mosquito control along with monitoring and evaluation of other relevant sectors," he said.  

Kabirul said that they get the data on the Dengue outbreak from only 41 hospitals under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). But the variants of Aedes change every year and even in every season.  

Referring to the Dengue epidemic in the Rohingya camp, Kabirul said that if the corporations can conduct serious drives against Aedes in the June-October period, it is still possible to bring the Dengue outbreak under control.

DGHS Director (disease control) Professor Dr Nazmul Islam said that the Aedes mosquito has increased not only in Dhaka but rather across the country.

"We are trying to use our limited resources. More work can be done if the allocation is increased," he said.  

He informed that already 2,000 Dengue patients have been detected in the Rohingya camps through a survey, of which over 1,000 are in camp B.

Planner Professor Adil Muhammad Khan said that urbanisation is the root cause of all the pandemics that took place in the world. The main cause of the Dengue outbreak is urbanisation and climate change.

He noted that if the population size cannot be specified in any city, no plan will be effective.

In his speech, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh attributed the Dengue outbreak to untimely rainfall due to climate change, excessive rainfall last year and the failure of the past mayor on taking action for Aedes control.  

Regarding the worse situation in his corporation about the Dengue outbreak which was revealed by the DGHS, Mayor Taposh said the patient list provided by the DGHS was wrong. The city corporation people did not find any patients in the respective areas mentioned in the list.