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The state is unwell if the outbreak of seasonal diseases is any indication. While dengue cases are on rise in urban areas, including Hyderabad, malaria is spreading in rural areas. The following table limns vector shoots in the state.
| Malaria |
Dengue |
Chikungunya |
| Adilabad |
Adilabad |
Hyderabad |
| Kadapa |
Hyderabad |
Mahbubnagar |
| Vishakapatnam |
Nizamabad |
|
| Srikakulam |
Rajahmundry |
|
| Vizianagaram |
Ranga Reddy district |
|
| Khammmam |
Karimnagar |
|
| Rajahmundry |
Warangal |
|
| East Godavari |
|
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Around 10,940 positive cases of malaria were reported this year till
August 31 and three deaths due to malaria were officially confirmed in
the state. Last year, there were 13,000 positive cases of malaria
reported from the state. Around 54 cases of dengue were confirmed
positive in the state this year against 24 last year according to
health officials. There is an increase in dengue cases in the state
when compared to last year but malarial cases have fallen.
Hyderabad:
Hyderabad district has 125 dengue cases, 62 of them confirmed, with one
death. Chikungunya symptoms are prevalent across a large population in
the city but only one has tested positive so far as per the records.
Mosquitoes that breed in accumulated water transmit both dengue and
chikungunya. It is a three-cycle chain, with the source of the disease,
the transmitting vector and a susceptible host required for the spread
of the diseases. Broken bottles, empty tins, ornamental flower pots in
homes and empty tyres, among others, are places where water
accumulates, creating possible breeding places for the transmitting
vectors.
Rajahmundry
In Rajahmundry,1,877 people are suffering from malaria while three are down with dengue in East Godavari. The district medical and health officer, Dr D. Vijaya Kumar, said so far seven persons died from malaria while three persons including one each from Jampeta and Sambhunagar areas in Rajahmundry and one more from Pandur village of Turangi mandal tested positive for dengue.7 deaths due to malaria and 3 dengue cases have been reported from the district.
Post-Control measures
Prophylactic treatment has been given in agency areas where there is a risk of malaria. Blood smears are being taken for confirmation. The presumptive treatment is yielding good results in the malaria-prone areas. Even sanitation programmes were being conducted as a part of post-control measures.
Conditions in the Capital
Hyderabad is a good breeding ground thanks largely to its extremes of climate which acts as a catalyst for viruses, and second, because of the large number of building construction sites throughout the city where mosquitoes breed. There are a large number of slums, particularly on the outskirts of the city where the vectors thrive in abundance. The vectors can start multiplying there itself and spread the disease. The mosquitoes that transmit dengue and chikungunya bite during the daytime. Since children are more prone to dengue, schools have been told to take suitable measures to ensure hygienic surroundings that discourage the breeding of mosquitoes.
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Anti-larval operations and public awareness programmes on controlling the mosquito menace have been set up for the notice of rising cases of malaria and dengue fevers in the twin cities. More men and material have been allocated to stamp out the mosquitoes by dividing the city into 3 zones to observe a visible difference as early as possible. All Deputy Commissioners have been told to take assistance of the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) to educate citizens in controlling mosquito breeding in stagnant water containers. |
Causes and cautions
The water works officials were cautioned to be more vigilant about the water quality supplied since there was a forecast of more rains and as follow-up information gathered from the epidemic cell. |
Lack of sanitation and unawareness about the disease are the main reasons for the fever to spread at this rate. Municipal corporations, municipalities and gram panchayats have not been carrying out sanitation works properly. The meager staff is finding it hard to clean up the garbage and muck in drains and storm water lines in towns. It is in these garbage and muck that the mosquitoes responsible for spread of dengue breed.
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Health diorama:
Many avail treatment when it is too late as lack of knowledge about the symptoms lead to ignoring the disease in the initial stages. Quacks are also on the loose in villages and small towns, delaying proper treatment to victims. Lack of equipment in government hospitals to treat dengue is another reason cited for the situation. Health officials purviewed that fevers would have subsided by September but with continuous rains and the floods followed, they are still prevalent.
Dengue Imputations:
Patients are more from the areas, where there is a lot of water stagnation. The spread of dengue has been attributed to the prevailing drought conditions and poor sanitation and prevalence of unhygienic conditions. Dengue cases are reported from the areas where overflowing drains and roads were uncared . The drains not only emit a foul odour but have also become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. The streets are also hardly swept. |
The state government has backtracked on including treatment for dengue in Rajiv Arogyasri scheme. The decision comes two days after the health minister, Mr D. Nagender, announced the inclusion, which the Chief Minister’s Office reiterated in its official press release on Sunday. |
The Chief Minister of the state has decided in the recent meetings to include treatment for dengue in Arogyasri, which will serve the common man to a large extent. The delay in the decision has been attributed to the cautions received on the misuse of the scheme and for the complications in the accurate diagnosis of dengue fever. |
GHMC’s Stake in the capital:
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is about to release about one lakh Gambusia species of fish in all major water bodies including Hussain Sagar to end the mosquito menace. The civic body is taking this step as all its other efforts to contain spread of mosquitoes failed. Hyderabad is a city of lakes and making the water bodies larvae-free is important.The number of fishes to be used for the anti-larval operations depends on the size of the water body and its vulnerability to mosquito breeding.
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As gambusia fishes eat mosquito larvae, releasing this species in water bodies will be an effective way to prevent the spread of malaria, dengue, chikungunya and other diseases. Many major water bodies in the city have become breeding places of mosquitoes. Anti-larval operations using fish have already begun as a reaction to the alarm given by the outbreak of communicable diseases by the district health officials. |
Climate change as tacit perpetrator
Insect invasion: Patterns of infection would change, with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily.
Rise in fevers and diseases like malaria and is broadly attributed to the rise in temperatures and climate change by the health officials of the affected areas, the factors making the viruses more active.Climate change had educed as a biggest threat to global health of the 21st century, keyed out from the floods around the state. Rising global temperatures are auguring a catastrophic effect on human health and the patterns of infection would change, with the insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily than presaged by epidemiologists. |
Various forms of wildlife and flora are also affected by the heating up of the climate, as a result species that are already classified as critically endangered will become extinct. This affects the biodiversity, and forest boundaries will shift as the climate will change faster than the capacity of plants to migrate. The Andhra Pradesh government faces its toughest task yet since the floods as it grapples with threats of outbreak of post-flood epidemics. Krishna, Kurnool, Guntur, Kadapa and Mahabubnagar districts, which were ravaged by the floods and remained underwater for six days, now face the possibility of the outbreak of water-borne and vector-borne diseases.
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