Dhaka city corporations redraw battle plan as mosquito sting thrives
ASM Atiq lives on the 3rd floor of a building in Dhaka’s Uttara. He uses mosquito screens on windows continuously, repellents during attacks and nets during sleep. But nothing works to save his two daughters from the bites of the insect.
“The insects lurk around the mosquito net during the night and slip in whenever they can,” he said.
Atiq has misgivings about the potency of the mosquito repellents sprayed by personnel of Dhaka North City Corporation, reports bdnews24.com.
“We see the workers using fogging machines. They also spray some medicine in the drains through the morning hours. However the mosquitoes have not eliminated away,” the exasperated father explained.
The residents of Dhaka are troubled as the density of Culex mosquito population has increased in the administrative centre. Culex mosquito bite does not cause dengue fever, however the attacks are believe it or not annoying.
There's been a spurt in mosquito population this time because of excessive rains through the months of November and December, said entomologists.
The Dhaka North City Corporation is considering an area-based 'crash programme' to curb mosquito infestation as the Dhaka South City Corporation is changing its mosquito repellent.
Nur Ullah Sohel, a resident of Bashundhara, alleged they have been worse off compared to the previous year.
The mosquito menace had not been that serious last March and in the couple of months that followed, Nur told bdnews24.com on Monday.
How was it under control then? Why can’t it be manipulated now?
“The federal government has been unable to take any effective steps to regulate mosquitoes," Sohel offered. "This is simply not a project worth vast amounts of takas. The federal government simply lacks goodwill.”
There is a difference of judgment among the persons on various issues, including politics, but there is none in terms of mosquito menace, he said.
Mohammad Ullah from Mohammadpur said mosquitoes cannot enter his eighth-floor home as he keeps the windows and doors shut all the time and his office is also safe from the insects.
He uncovered the terrible feeling of being attacked by Dhaka’s mosquitoes after visiting his father-in-law's house in Kalyanpur.
"The situation was therefore dire that I could pluck out a small number of mosquitoes from the air after sunset. There seems to become more mosquitoes this year than the previous years.”
According to a study conducted simply by Kabirul Bashar, professor of zoology by Jahangirnagar University, the mosquito infestation in the administrative centre this time is greater than the same period this past year. He offers been focusing on mosquito density since January 2020.
Six localities found in Dhaka are selected for sampling on a monthly basis and individual surveys are conducted in those areas, Kabirul said. For this function, mosquito density-measuring devices or dippers happen to be installed at several places.
As many as 200 dippers were create in each one area. Each dipper was submerged in water once and the amount of mosquito larvae it found was counted after lifting it. After collecting all the samples, the average was calculated to obtain the density of mosquitoes in the particular area.
“The figure varies from spot to place. This past year, we got typically 35-40 larvae per dipper. But typically 50-55 was within February this year. When there is no crash programme to curb the mosquito outbreak and if there is no storm, then your amount of mosquitoes can upsurge in March,” said Kabirul.
There was more rain than usual in November and December. The canals have chock-full and the accumulation of water in these closed normal water bodies in Dhaka possesses offered a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes to multiply, explained entomologist Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury. Due to this fact, the mosquito menace has more bite at the moment of the year.
“Breeding sites are suffering from in the accumulated drinking water. The more breeding sites there happen to be, the more the Culex mosquitoes will reproduce. That's what has took place this time.”
A significant storm would naturally decrease the number of Culex mosquitoes, said Manjur. But he suggested a fast mosquito eradication programme.
"You can't await the rainfall to come. I observed the DNCC will conduct an area-centered programme. I'm hoping for a visible change if that happens.”
DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said he wanted effective methods to end the mosquito menace. He also held a day-long conference on the problem on Monday.
"I wanted to learn from the entomologists the real reason for the increase in mosquito population. They explained the infestation is normally bigger this time because of the excess rains.”
A good regional crash programme will be launched in the DNCC areas over Mar 8 or 10, he said.
"I used to conduct ward-based crash programme. Now it will likely be region-established. We'll deploy all the staff and equipment in 10 regions simultaneously. We want to observe how it works. We need rain aswell.”
ABM Amin Ullah Noori, ceo of DSCC, was adamant that mosquito infestation hasn't spiralled uncontrollable, not yet. He sounded confident that the initiatives taken up to control mosquito, including eradication of its sources, will prove effective.
They have also changed the mosquito repellents.
“Malathion was first used for fogging. We're speculating the mosquitoes may have turn into resistant to the medicine because of its long-term work with. We've consulted with a specialist committee on this matter. We will use Deltamethrin now.”
“We've sat straight down with the experts to look for the sum of diesel to mix with Deltamethrin,” Amin Ullah said.
“They gave us a formula. If we use our imported medicine in line with the formula, we are in a position to control the infestation even more.”
