BMC finds dengue larvae at 28,162 sites

THIS YEAR ALONE, THE BMC HAS RECORDED NINE DENGUE DEATHS IN THE CITY

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified water storage drums as the major source of breeding of mosquito larvae that cause dengue. Of the 99.81 lakh houses inspected, the civic body discovered dengue-causing mosquito larvae in 28,162 places. Of them, 53% of the larvae were found in water-storage drums.

Between January and September, the BMC inspected over 1,77,08,984 water-storage containers and found that the most common places where these larvae were found included drums, defrost trays, air conditioning systems, tires, bottles, buckets, tarpaulins sheets, water storage tanks, decorative plants, thermocol items, kiosks, and vases, among others household items.

The data was revealed during a meeting with the pesticide and the health department on Friday.

Of the 28,162 sites where the aedes aegypti (dengue-causing mosquito) larvae were detected, 14, 930 places were water-storage drums. In 24.74% sites, larvae were found in tires, coconut shells, plastic bottles, thermocol items, among others; in 20.58% cases, the larvae were found in utensils and tin sheds; and in 8.55% on tarpaulin sheets.

This year alone, the BMC has recorded nine dengue deaths. In view of this, civic chief Ajoy Mehta has ordered the pesticide and health department to launch a massive awareness campaign.

During the meeting, Dr Rajan Naringrekar, insecticide officer, said that since aedes aegypti lay eggs in clean water, citizens must make sure that they change the water in storage utensils.