In what can be termed as a blessing in disguise the extensive sanitisation activity to contain the spread of novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) ensured that not even a single case of dengue was reported in the provisional state capital of Dehradun this year. Interestingly enough, the spraying of disinfectant such as Sodium hypo- chlorite failed to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Dehradun where 20583 cases of the disease have been reported till Wednesday; it however helped in destroying the eggs and larvae of dengue spreading mosquito and which manifested in no case of the disease in the district this year.
It is worth mentioning here that worried at the prospect of a double whammy of Covid-19 and dengue, the district administration of Dehradun became vigilant on preventing dengue ahead of the monsoon period this year and was eventually successful in containing at least the vector borne disease. Dehradun along with districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar is the hot bed of dengue and every year a large number of people become infected with the disease.
The disease also claims many lives every year. The data of the state health department suggest that 4991 cases of dengue were reported in year 2019 while 314 and 366 cases were reported in the year 2018 and 2017 respectively. Similarly 1434 cases of dengue were found in 2016 and 829 cases were reported in the year 2015.
The experts inform that the egg of the mosquito has a unique capability to form a protective covering (cyst) around them with the onset of winters and with return of favourable condition during monsoon they became active again.
These encysted eggs got destroyed by spray of disinfectants this year. The fear of getting infected with Covid-19 also kept suspected dengue patients away from the labs for tests of dengue. The head of department of Zoology at DAV, PG College here, Shashi Solanki opines that extensive use of sanitizers, constant washing of hands with soap done by people to drive away Coronavirus also helped in preventing dengue which is also a viral disease.
The district vector borne diseases officer of Dehradun, Subhash Joshi said that on the orders of the district magistrate (DM), the entire machinery became active on the dengue front in the month of March itself and responsibility of different departments and municipal and other bodies was fixed at the onset. He added that source reduction activity and awareness drives also helped in containing dengue this year.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito. The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints. In acute cases the platelet number decreases drastically which may prove fatal for the patient.
