Tame the Mosquito

India does not have to bear the onslaught of vector-borne diseases year after year. It is possible to control mosquitoes that spread these diseases. Here's how.

- Vibha Varshney,Kundan Pandey,Anand Vattamannil and Manupriya

SCIENTISTS SAY a month of concentrated efforts is all it takes to control mosquitoes responsible for diseases like dengue and chikungunya. But the claim sounds far-fetched at a time when almost the entire country has been reporting these diseases for the past eight months (see ‘Vector war intensifies’ on p24).

The country registered 36,110 confirmed cases of dengue and 14,656 cases of chikun-gunya till September 11. Government data shows dengue has also claimed 70 lives. An alarming number of cases have been reported of another type of fever whose symptoms are similar to chikungunya and dengue. It is being dubbed mystery fever. Unable to understand what causes the fever, government agencies have started screening for Zika, another vector-borne disease, as a precaution. The National Institute of Virology, Pune, has already checked over 300 blood samples for Zika virus, but the samples have tested negative, confirms D T Mourya, director of the institute.

Ask B N Nagpal, scientist at the National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi, why the country has failed to avert such an outbreak of vector-borne diseases and he says it is because of lack of political will. “Even if existing methods are employed properly, it is possible to control the population of mosquitoes,” says Nagpal. His sentiments were echoed by the National Green Tribunal, which on September 21, reprimanded the Delhi government for its “shameful and shocking” response to the outbreak. The capital has so far registered four dengue deaths.

Shifting places

A fallout of this political apathy has been the failure of the government to adapt to the changing nature of Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is responsible for the diseases plaguing the country.