HYDERABAD: Officials with the Urban Malaria Scheme of the GHMC have cautioned people against a high density of mosquito breeding over the next two weeks due to temperature and seasonal variations being experienced in the city over the past few days. Ratna Joseph, chief entomologist with the GHMC, pointed out, “Once summer sets in completely by mid-March, the density will come down drastically, and with it, the menace of mosquito breeding will drop, only to further rise in July, at the onset of monsoons.” He further explained that the longevity of a mosquito’s life is inversely proportional to the temperature once the new season’s breeding cycle begins, which would be probably from mid-March.“But for now, the density will only rise further until the end of next month.” Joseph expressed the fear that areas such as Banjara Hills, Panjagutta etc.face increased threat of mosquito-borne diseases than peripheral areas such as Kukatpally, Gachibowli etc.“I would be more concerned about keeping in check domestic water storage points, as well as the problem of accumulated water in urban slums, and gardens of posh urban houses, which can be fertile spots for mosquito breeding, than looking for breeding spots in the suburbs,” he added.Statistics provided by GHMC complement his concern, with Circles 7,8 and 9 comprising central Hyderabad topping the number of dengue and malaria cases reported since 2009.On its part, the GHMC is trying to move away from mere fogging measures, to a more regulated approach to nip the menace in the bud.“We have reduced the area of fogging in recent months, which has helped reduce the volume of diesel used per trip from 20L to 10L.That’s because the mosquito density has reduced comparatively in Hyderabad over the years, and also since urban mosquitoes have become resistant to all such chemicals, there’s no point of indiscriminate fogging.Instead, we have now begun to focus on source reduction measures to control larvae growth,” said Joseph.His team of over 100 workers regularly visit areas where large water bodies are present, or to areas with domestic water storage points and try to control the growth of mosquitoes at site.“We have been trying to rear guppy fish in some water bodies, while in others we have tried rearing anti-mosquito bacteria.But the presence of large volumes of water hyacinth in most water bodies in the city affect both our larvae and adult control techniques”, he said.“We can’t even use chemicals in the water since it will affect the growth of fish.” Some officials working with the project felt that an utter lack of coordination between the GHMC, the HMDA (which controls the lakes of Hyderabad), as well as other research and educational institutions is preventing the development of indigenous endemic techniques for mosquito control.“Till an effective solution that uniformly helps control mosquito growth is found, residents of Hyderabad will have to continue to watch out for themselves and maintain hygiene within and around their homes”, said an officer involved with the project Already in the past two months, seven cases of dengue have been reported in the city, four of them from Secunderabad circle alone, unlike last year when mosquitoborne diseases were reported only from July onwards.But Joseph isn’t unduly worried, “In Mumbai over 62,000 malaria cases are reported annually.In Hyderabad, it’s just around 350.” Better in number, at least?
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