The Hindu                              23.02.2013

Free mosquito nets for poor residents

Staff Reporter 

The civic body will distribute free mosquito nets to poor residents living along the city’s waterways.

The Corporation council on Friday passed a resolution to distribute mosquito nets to residents along the 16 minor and major waterways such as the Cooum, Adyar and Buckingham Canal.

According to health department officials, the initiative is likely to prove the most cost-effective way of battling mosquito menace, and in an environment-friendly manner. People who cannot afford repellents are likely to benefit from this scheme.

The move followed reports that fogging operations were not effective in tackling mosquitoes in some areas. The civic body has been carrying out fogging operations in most areas in the city.

Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy, at the council meeting on Friday, said the proposal to distribute mosquito nets was aimed at protecting people from vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. The civic body has been struggling to control mosquito menace and vector-borne diseases despite clearing a number of breeding sources such as coconut shells, unused tyres, overhead tanks and sumps.

Over the past few months, the Corporation has been on the lookout for better technology to control malaria-causing Anopheles and dengue-causing Aedes species of mosquitoes.

Even though challenges caused by breeding grounds in over 25,000 unoccupied plots of land, two lakh overhead tanks, 74,526 wells and 65,166 sumps are being tackled by the civic body, reports of vector-borne diseases are relatively high along the waterways.

Fogging operations were not effective in tackling mosquito menace in some areas in the city.

The Times of India                           22.02.2013

Mosquito numbers up though dengue cases drop

CHENNAI: Though the Chennai Corporation has recorded only six cases of dengue in the past month, reports suggest that more people have shown symptoms of the disease. Though the civic body says it has taken measures to control the spread of mosquitoes, its own statistics show that the number of mosquitoes has risen compared to the same period last year.

The civic body measures mosquito density in different parts of the city through the year. Between January 17 and 23, the civic body measured a mosquito density of 72 in Royapuram. For January 24 to 30, the number is 64. Last years, for the same period the corporation numbers stand at 48.

Royapuram is not the only zone that has seen an increase. Tondiarpet, Teynampet and Anna Nagar too have recorded an increase. Between January 17 and 23, the density in Anna Nagar recorded was 64 and between January 24 and 30, it stood at 56, which is far higher than the 40 recorded during the same period last year.

However, experts say the corporation cannot entirely be blamed for the increase in mosquitoes. "A reason for the rise is the lack of rain last year," says Dr S Elango, former directorate of public health and president of Public Health Association of India. "Even Cyclone Nilam did not bring much rain," he says. Though heavy rain causes water logging and mosquito breeding, infrequent rain also contributes.

"Canal banks are the main spot for larval breeding," says a senior entomologist in the health department. "When it rains heavily, the water in the canals flows extremely fast, washing away the eggs laid by mosquitoes. So mosquito density drops during and just after rain," he says.

Experts say the civic body should have foreseen this issue and stepped up its mosquito prevention efforts. "The officials at the civic body know how the upcoming season will be," says Elango. "They could have stepped up activities for fogging and destruction of breeding sources."

In some zones such as Tiruvottriyur, Manali and Kodambakkam, the mosquito density between January 17 and 23 was 56, 48 and 56 respectively. "These are the same numbers recorded last year, no increase," said a corporation official.

The corporation recently said that the number of dengue cases has reduced drastically in the last few months compared to the same period last year. They said January's six cases is a fraction of the 40 dengue cases recorded during the same period last year. In December 2012 too only five cases were reported compared to 40 cases during the same period in 2011.

Officials say they have taken steps to remove domestic breeding sources such as plastic cups, buckets, drums, coconut shells and grinding stones. They also carry out intensive fogging operations every Tuesday.