Lockdown helps reduce incidence of dengue in Mysuru

Mysuru: The drastic measures adopted by the government to combat the pandemic may have inconvenienced people, but in addition to curbing the transmission of the novel coronavirus, these preventive steps have helped reduce incidence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya in Mysuru district.
Concerted awareness drives launched by the district administration, in collaboration with the health department, have to a great extent helped reduce the number of dengue and chikungunya cases in Mysuru. For instance, the number of dengue cases in Mysuru, which soared to 843 in 2017 slumped to 49 the following year, before witnessing a small jump in 2019 (122). However, as on June 30, 2020, Mysuru has recorded just 14 dengue cases
Coronavirus may have created fear among people forcing them to stay indoors but on the positive side, it has brought down cases of communicable diseases in the district.
Headed by district vector-borne diseases control officer Dr S Chidambara, a team of health department personnel, conducted a fortnight-long larval survey starting June 15, wherein the members inspected 1,66,826 spots across Mysuru to check for breeding of larva. They found larvae to be breeding in 3,509 places. The members of the team also inspected more than four lakh water tanks, and found that larvae were breeding in over 4,000.
“Following the spurt in 2017, we held awareness drives regularly to ensure people took all safety measures against dengue. If we look at the number of cases reported in the district, and compare it with figures of other districts where the population is approximately the same, the incidence of dengue and chikungunya in Mysuru is less. On average, the district reported around 20 dengue cases in June, and twice as many in July. But owing to the lockdown, and constant vigilance on our part, the number of cases of dengue has fallen sharply in the district,” Chidambara told TOI.
The medical officer also pointed to restrictions on entry of people from other districts and states had helped keep the number of dengue cases in Mysuru low. “Increased movement of people leads to a corresponding rise in the number of communicable diseases,” Dr Chidambara added.
The lockdown, having been in force throughout April, and some part of May, had helped greatly bring down the number of dengue cases in Mysuru, he added.
Sharp dip in dengue, chikungunya cases in Mysuru
Illness
2017
2018
2019
2020
Dengue
843
49
122
14*
Chikungunya
78
41
81
12*
*As on June 30, 2020
Source: Mysuru district health department