Local govt bodies to blame for failing to contain dengue outbreak: Experts

A group of entomologists have pinned the blame on local government authorities in Bangladesh for their shortsightedness and failure to contain the outbreak of dengue virus, the worst since record-keeping began in the 1960s, reports bdnews24.com.

During a seminar in Dhaka on Saturday, an entomologist said he believes this year's dengue outbreak, which has claimed 453 lives as of Friday, should have been declared a health emergency.
One of the speakers in the seminar, Dr Manjur A Chowdhury, former president of the Zoological Society of Bangladesh, blasted city corporations in Dhaka as he highlighted the errors made by the local government authorities in containing the outbreak.
"The fogging method city corporations used to kill an adult mosquito is useless since Aedes aegypti [known carrier of dengue virus] does not live on sewerage lines or drainage.
"Fogging can take care of perhaps only 20 per cent of the mosquitoes. Time and time again, we have advised city authorities to use the ULV [ultra-low volume] spraying method."
"Whatever is happening now, employing deer, ducks and frogs to eradicate mosquitoes, is a joke," said Manjur.
He also said the authorities shied away from calling the outbreak an epidemic because they did not want to spread panic among the public.
"The number of hospitalisations and deaths in July alone was enough to declare the outbreak as an epidemic. Perhaps, the government fears such a declaration may lead to public panic," he said.