THE dengue outbreak, with at least 82,120 cases of hospital admission and 422 deaths from dengue, is worsening by the day as the government is yet to develop an effective mechanism to trace source vector mosquitoes and prevent further spread of the virus. Entomologists and virologists consider source detection, the spots from where the Aedes mosquito spreads the germ, as the first step in dengue management and prevention. But, the government has no mechanism to trace the infection history. City authorities or municipalities do not have any source detection mechanism and, therefore, conduct aimless drives. For source detection, it is important to collect the infection history of patients, but hospitals do not collect such information. As dengue patients generally develop symptoms on the fourth day of infection, it is important to trace the patient鈥檚 history to the place of infection. Patients who do not go to hospital also remain outside the reach of the dengue information system. The efforts are now exclusively focused on eliminating the breeding ground, but not all mosquitoes carry the virus. This is why it is important to trace the carrier location and hold targeted drives.
In recent months, experts have termed the government programmes unscientific and flawed in that they have failed to act considering the changing reproductive behaviour of the vector. When it is considered that high day temperatures with low humidity are unfavourable for the spread of the Aedes mosquitoes, a high number of dengue cases are reported during the dry season. The cases indicate a possible genetic mutation, an under-researched reproductive behaviour of the vector that needs to be understood for an effective prevention strategy. Physicians are also concerned that the outbreak may turn more fatal as people report their experience of being infected with the dengue virus more than once in the same season. The immunity to fight the virus is compromised when a person is infected with the virus more than once in a short time and it increases the risk of fatality rate. The public hospitals, however, do not have any mechanism to identify patients with prior experience of infection. They rely on patients鈥� accounts. Besides, the fogging methods and chemicals used to control larvae and adult mosquitoes have now also proved ineffective.
The government should, therefore, should immediately review the weaknesses of the mosquito control programmes and introduce a mechanism to detect the source of the vector mosquito. In doing so, it should ensure that the dengue treatment protocol is amended so that the patients鈥� infection history and previous record of dengue infection are documented after hospital admission and an awareness campaign is launched to inform the public of the importance of source detection and the risk of complications in the event of infection more than once. The government should also redouble its efforts in mosquito control and equip hospitals with adequate funds and necessary medicines.