Hyderabad: Unseasonable rains in January have activated mosquitoes that are swarming into homes leading to fears of mosquito borne diseases apart from the seasonal winter diseases.
Big, dark black mosquitoes can be seen in corners of homes from evening onwards. Water stagnation, even with the small quantity of rain the city received, is alarming because it is enough to get the drains overflowing and there is a bad smell in the neighbourhood.
A senior GHMC official admitted that the drains are choked “due to plastic, cloth, rice bags and other things thrown into them by people. Household sewage is let out in the Musi river and lakes in the city. There are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. “The population of mosquitoes in the city is very high as they breed on sewage water. Households and neighbourhoods have been warned not to allow water to accumulate for long.” Dr Ram Babu, chief entomologist, explained, “The first day of the year had the entomology wing out on the road as we had to ensure that the stagnant water was diluted and properly treated to avoid breeding of mosquitoes."
There is water logging and stagnation on main roads and inside residential areas as there is nowhere for the water to drain off.
Dr Mustafa Afzal, consultant clinical microbiologist and infectious disease specialist, says sudden rains lead to variations in temperatures and the fluctuation affects senior citizens and children the most. “On one hand there is emergence of mosquitoes bringing back the risk of mosquito borne diseases like dengue and chikungunia, and on the other hand new viruses are moving in due to the wind movement, leading to emergence of viral flu, swine flu and also pneumonia.
Hence it is a double risk and people must follow preventive steps of hand hygiene and cough etiquette," he said.
Sporadic dengue and swine flu cases have been noted in the city but they are not very virulent as was the case in June to August last year.
