KATHMANDU: The government has urged 13 local levels to remain alert against dengue infection after cases were detected in those areas.
Dr. Gokarna Prasad Dahal, chief of the Vector-Borne Disease Branch under the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD), said the alert was issued after dengue infections were confirmed in the concerned local levels.
“We have been studying the dengue situation in local levels across the country since Poush,” he said. “Sporadic dengue cases have been found in other local levels as well. However, we have formally urged these 13 local levels to remain vigilant after up to five cases were detected there.”
According to Dr. Dahal, the affected local levels include Siddhicharan Municipality of Okhaldhunga; Bhadrapur Municipality, Birtamod Municipality, Mechinagar Municipality, and Kachankawal Rural Municipality of Jhapa; Dharan Sub-metropolitan City of Sunsari; Beni Municipality of Myagdi; Bharatpur Metropolitan City of Chitwan; Butwal Sub-metropolitan City of Rupandehi; Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City of Makawanpur; Kamalamai Municipality of Sindhuli; and Lalitpur Metropolitan City.
Around 600 dengue infections have been reported since Poush, he said.
Dr. Dahal added that the current rainfall is unlikely to increase dengue transmission. “The present rainwater does not create favorable conditions for dengue-carrying mosquitoes to spread because the water does not remain stagnant for long,” he explained.
He said dengue is mainly spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which breed in clean stagnant water. Their eggs hatch into larvae, which later develop into adult mosquitoes capable of transmitting dengue through bites.
Comment