Dengue becoming a growing menace

13 October, 2012

The dengue danger is looming over the capital and the death count due to dengue has crossed 330 for this season. More than 150 cases were officially reported in this week, and the South Delhi region is worst affected with 128 cases.

THE COMMISSIONER of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Manish Gupta, has sent a written report to all the head of the government departments, and education and autonomous institutions to follow proper dengue prevention methods to prevent dengue, this will help to tackle the raising number of dengue cases in the city. The health minister AK Walia is also taking serious steps on this growing menace of Dengue.

Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-born disease, it has grown almost 30 folds in the last five decades and is endemic in about hundred countries and has kept about two-fifth of the world's population on risk. U.C. Chaturvedi, a virologist, says that Dengue has become endemic in most of the parts in India. He also advised the people to immediately hospitalize for supportive treatment, if they find any symptom of Dengue such as rash and small bleeding spots on the skin.

The main hurdle to create a vaccine against dengue is that the virus comes in four different varieties known as serotypes. If the person recovers from one serotype then he becomes immune to only that particular serotype and not the other three, so the individual has all the chances of getting dengue from the other serotypes. However, different approaches to develop a new vaccine are being tested and some of them are already in clinical trials.

A Malaysian prince has come up with a new organic pesticide called 'QuitiKill' that kills mosquito larva, hence preventing the spread of dengue. QuitiKill is a non-toxic pestiside and is not harmful for the humans, animals and fishes. The rice husk is used as a carrier for this pesticide and a floating device for the formulation. It requires less than a hour to kill the larva of the mosquitoes, from the moment of application. And the efficacy of the product lasts for a month. QuitiKills works by interfering in the process of protein digestion in the larva and causes metabolic starvation and larval death, reported Business Standard.