‘Preventive measures at home most effective’

Preventive measures necessary to rid homes of mosquito breeding grounds, said WHO expert.

LAHORE: There was a need to adopt preventive measures at homes to get rid of all possible breeding grounds of the mosquito that caused dengue fever, Dr Kern Walcher, the World Health Organisation (WHO) consultant and an entomologist, said on Friday.

He was addressing a training workshop on Vector Control of Dengue organised by the Punjab Health Department at the National Institute of Malariology and Training.

Dr Walcher said that the mosquito bred around clean water containers at homes. He said that spray and fumigation campaigns were equally important and should be carried out across all residential areas. He added that there was no vaccine available in the market to treat dengue fever and said that the preparation of one would take another five years.

Dr Walcher expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made by the provincial Health Department and the city district government of Lahore to control the outbreak of dengue fever.

He said that the use of biological methods to exterminate mosquitoes responsible for dengue fever was quite complicated. He said that the method had not even been used in the United States.

Dr Qutbuddin Kakar, the WHO technical officer; Dr Anwar Janjua, Punjab Health Services director; Dr Ghazala Nadeem, the NIMT director; Rana Saleem, an entomologist; Dr Umer Farooq Baloch, the executive district officer (Health); and Dr Haq Nawaz Bharwana also addressed the workshop.

The speakers pressed upon the people to make sure that clean water does not accumulate in and around their houses. They said that room coolers, flower pots and bath tubs should be cleared of water when not in use.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2010.