Mumbai civic body forms ‘Special 360’ to tackle dengue head-on

Each of the three teams, comprising five officials, has equipment using which they check every corner of a building or a house

The civic body has formed ‘Special 360’ to tackle dengue in the most vulnerable pockets of Mumbai. Officials said the team will visit areas with highest dengue cases across 24 wards and will study data compiled in the past three years to contain dengue menace in the city.

Between June 1 to July 15, 59 patients who tested positive for dengue were treated at various city hospitals (HT file)

Between June 1 to July 15, 59 patients who tested positive for dengue were treated at various city hospitals. Simultaneously, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) public health department said that 125 cases, which could be dengue, were registered at civic hospitals in July.

“Data from the past two years suggests that 80% of dengue patients had mosquito breeding spots in or around their homes. Hence, we created a special team to focus on problem areas, destroy repeated breeding grounds and create awareness among people to keep their surroundings clean,” said Rajan Naringrekar, insecticide officer, BMC.

Officials said the team will target Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of dengue and yellow fever, which lays around 100-150 eggs at a time, and undergoes four reproductive cycles during her three-week lifespan.

He added that localities were shortlisted based after studying last three year’s data and number of dengue cases recorded, which was provided by the public health department.

The officials from insecticide department claimed to have destroyed more than 10,000 dengue and malaria mosquito breeding sites this year. Naringrekar said the dengue brigade will work alongside yearly surveillance teams, but will focus on wards where dengue problem is intense.