Pakistan looks to IAEA for dengue eradication

Global watchdog to help adopt technique to curtail breeding of dengue-carrying mosquito.

ISLAMABAD: Faced with the prospect of another outbreak of the deadly dengue epidemic, Pakistan has sought scientific support from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“The IAEA is helping the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in the country’s fight against dengue,” a source familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune. “A comprehensive plan was jointly evolved by the two agencies in Vienna last month.”

On PAEC’s request, the IAEA invited senior scientists and physicians who introduced new techniques for prevention and control of the disease that killed scores across the country this summer, particularly in Punjab. Lahore was the worst-hit city as 205 of the total 243 dengue deaths in Pakistan were reported in that city alone.

The plan, estimated to cost $5 million, is expected to be executed in March 2012. It includes training for Pakistani physicians, particularly those in Lahore, who have been working on curing and preventing the epidemic.

Pakistan approached IAEA when experts realised that the existing conventional methods of chemical spraying will have to be replaced by biological control measures. Therefore, it has been decided that the sterilisation insect technique, a new concept for suppression of the dengue-carrying mosquito, will be adopted in Pakistan. The technique is said have been successfully adopted in many countries that faced the dengue epidemic.

The technique requires breeding millions of sterile male mosquitoes in colonies. They will then be released in dengue-affected areas to suppress the natural male mosquito at a ratio of 1:10 (10 sterile mosquitoes for each natural one). The technique also involves treating the male mosquito to make it infertile in order to limit reproduction of dengue-carrying mosquito.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2011.