Dengue continues to rage

By Ishtartha Wellaboda

As the number of dengue cases continues to rise, health authorities have accused local authorities for not lending a helping hand to combat the dengue epidemic in the country.
Speaking to TBL about the problems encountered by the Unit, Director of the Epidemiology Unit Dr. Paba Palihawadana said; “The local governments are not too keen about carrying out their responsibilities in cleaning large garbage dumps. We must take into account the fact that the disease has been spreading despite the prevailing dry climate. Given the current situation, we expect that there could be an outbreak of dengue next month when the monsoon rains are expected to begin.”
She also said that they have already advised the local authorities, but there was no favourable response from their part so far.
“We have made all the arrangement at the policy making level and we have passed on all our decisions to the local authorities. It is now up to them to implement these plans to dispose garbage properly. If the local government bodies were to come out and take action we could face the upcoming situation successfully,” she added.
Though there have been little rain to provide the dengue mosquitoes with their preferred breeding grounds with small quantities of clean water, we have seen a rise in the disease since January.
The last two months have shown the highest number of reported cases since the outbreak last year where from May to August 14,265 cases were reported. This year 8,001 cases have been reported to the Epidemiology Unit so far with 4,606 cases in January and 3,395 cases reported in February.
Dengue has been on the rise especially in Jaffna with 1,557 cases reported to the Epidemiology Unit during the past two months. Colombo and Gampaha have been leading the table last month with 1,004 cases reported from Gampaha and 954 cases reported from Colombo.