Delhi may have to suffer more from dengue
Delhi, national capital of flamboyant India (?) is getting haunted by a new specter, it is of dengue, an infectious disease of the tropics transmitted by mosquitoes and characterized by rash and aching head and joints and the situation is such that almost every inhabitant of the city knows a dengue patient. Whose fault is this? Well, blame game has begun and lots of government departments ranging from civic health, City Corporation to those of the state government have already started hurling accusations at others.
But the message is quite clear. People continue and have to suffer. As per the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), there are more than 47,000 spots across the capital, blamed as breeding grounds for the deadly aedes aegypti or the dengue mosquito. Municipal authorities have issued 47,168 legal notices to residents and organizations after dengue larvae were found breeding openly in homes, offices, back-lanes drains and on roadsides. This figure may not hold for much longer. It is based on surveys by health officials between June and October.
What has been the effect then? NO and nothing! But you shouldn’t enquire about the violation of basic guidelines in the city as that may put you into shame. No less than 5,043 individuals and organizations have been prosecuted for allowing water to accumulate and letting the dengue mosquito breed freely. Even NDMC authorities have found that basic guidelines for dengue prevention have not been followed at Rashtrapati Bhawan, and at homes of a Union minister and a former Prime Minister.N. K. Yadav, MCD health officer, said, "We have been issuing notices and challans to defaulters, but the dengue larvae still breed across the city. People are not acting responsibly. We can combat dengue only with the cooperation of the people." Is this a mere frustration or a reprehensible laxity?
If you from Delhi, be sure there is no immediate respite.
As per WHO (World Health Organization), dengue is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses. It occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Symptoms appear 3—14 days after the infective bite. Dengue fever is a febrile illness that affects infants, young children and adults.
