With 27 cases this year, Ward 31 in Salt Lake tops the entire Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area in terms of outbreak of dengue, leaving Ward 10 in Baguiati a distant second. Ward 31 comprises the seven blocks AE, BE, BF, CE, CF, DE and DF.
The tally of the dengue-affected in the corporation area since January stands at 112, with 28 cases added over the past seven days.
Warning bells were sounded at a dengue awareness meet held at the CE Block community centre on Wednesday. “We are finding mosquito larvae in the same building where people are falling sick. So only if you keep your house in order will you be safe from dengue. We will keep the outside clean but not allowing mosquito to breed on your premises is your responsibility,” said Banibrata Banerjee, BMC’s mayoral council member in charge of health, at the meet.
Municipal commissioner Sujay Sarkar said vector-borne diseases were usually on the upswing since the start of August and continue till end-October. “We are undertaking vector-control drives twice a week. Still there are several cases in your ward.”
Larvaecide being sprayed in water accumulated in a defunct fountain in the Green Verge of CE Block.
He shared several tips to reduce risk. “People of Salt Lake like gardening. We have found larvae in water accumulated in tubs, on plastic sheets which residents use to provide shade to saplings… Mosquitoes can breed even in two spoonfuls of rainwater on a large leaf,” Sarkar said. He shared an important tip: do not drain out such water into a pool of water. The egg can remain alive for years and will hatch into a larva as soon as it finds the condition conducive. Drain it on dry surface instead, so that it cannot find such condition.
He also insisted that people use mosquito nets at least till October. “It is as important for dengue as the mask is to ward off Covid.” He also advised people of the ward to wear covered clothes. “Avoid half-sleeved shirts and half pants. Do not give the mosquito space to bite.”
Utpal Goswami, the medical superintendent of the Matri Sadan hospitals in Narayanpur and Deshbandhunagar advised people to go for dengue virus antigen tests (NS1) which can be done free at government healthcare facilities. “Go for the test on the very first day of fever if you want to rule out dengue. Even after you fall sick once, do not think you are immune to dengue. There are four types of dengue virus. You can get infected by any of the other three types,” he warned.
He also asked people to be careful after the fever subsides. “We have often seen that complications start after discharge from the hospital.”
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