Dengue likely to rise as mosquito eradication initiative disrupted
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka is running out of chemicals that are used to control the dengue mosquito population, the National Dengue Control Unit (NDCU) warned on Monday (2), identifying Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Galle, Matara, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Puttalam and Ratnapura as areas that are at high risk for dengue.
The pesticides Sri Lanka use to destroy mosquito colonies are low in stock, NDCU Director Sudath Samaraweera said, adding that the health ministry has been informed about the situation and that that efforts are being made to provide adequate stocks as soon as possible.
Samaraweera said there was a 22.6% increase in reported dengue cases in the last week of April, compared to the third week.
Meanwhile, head of the Public Health Inspectors Union (PHIU) Upul Rohana told the media that they have run out of chemicals used to control mosquitoes.
Rohana said they are also facing shortages in materials needed to carry out full blood count tests to identify dengue cases.
He said that they have detected 17,123 dengue cases in the first three months of 2022, which is nearly half of the total cases reported in 2021.
The PHIU head said the number of dengue infections and fatalities will increase in the near future as dengue eradication and testing programs are disrupted.
– Xinhua-