What is the issue?
- Many vector-borne diseases, such as chikungunya, dengue, malaria and others, in many parts of the country onset much before the usual time this year.
- Delhi alone has witnessed 92 confirmed cases of chikungunya and dengue, with 38 deaths, since January.
- Usually, such diseases spike during the rainy season due to conditions favourable for the proliferation of mosquitoes and other vectors.
What are the reasons?
- It is a clear indication of the health authorities’ failure to take necessary preventive action.
- The premature disease explosion is due to
- Poor sanitation,
- Careless construction activity,
- Sloppy upkeep of overhead tanks and other water containers,
- Inefficient solid waste management and
- The virtual collapse of the mosquito control programme.
- The most commonly used method to control mosquitoes, is the least effective.
- It kills only the adults without curbing breeding, which holds the key to containing mosquito population.
What should be done?
- Some species of fishes are known to feed on the larvae of the disease-spreading mosquitoes.
- These should be multiplied and introduced in water bodies where mosquitoes generally breed.
- China is reportedly using genetically modified male mosquitoes which can kill the females by passing on a killer toxin to them during copulation.
- Those living in risk-prone areas should be treated with the use of anti-viral drugs such as Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir.
- These drugs not only shorten the duration and severity of the illness but also serve as virtual vaccines.
- The alternative systems of medicines can also be looked into.
- The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has announced the development a drug called “AYUSH PJ7” that can control dengue.
Source: Business Standard
