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The Directorate General of Health Services, in its pre-monsoon Aedes survey, found higher mosquito density in the Dhaka South City Corporation areas than that of Dhaka North City Corporation.

Higher mosquito density was found in the DSCC areas than in the DNCC areas, both in the Breautu Index and the House Index.

The health directorate surveyed 40 out of 54 DNCC wards and 59 out of 75 DSCC wards.

In the BI, the health directorate found 29 wards with a higher mosquito density in DSCC than 12 wards in DNCC.

In the HI, the DGHS found high mosquito density in 47 DSCC wards against 30 DNCC wards.

DGHS director of disease Control and line director for communicable disease control professor Sheikh Daud Adnan revealed the survey findings at a dissemination workshop at its office in the capital’s Mohakhali area.

‘We found larvae in 463 houses out of 3,152 surveyed ones under the two city corporations,’ he said.

Of them, 42.33 per cent of larvae were in multi-storey buildings, 21.6 per cent in independent houses, 21.6 per cent in under-construction buildings, 12.74 per cent in semi-pucca houses, and 1.73 per cent in open spaces,’ said Adnan.

The 10-day survey was conducted between April 17 and April 26 in 99 wards under the DSCC and DNCC by 21 teams.

The Breautu Index, which indicates the number of positive containers per 100 houses above 20 during the pre-monsoon season, shows a danger sign, said DGHS officials.

The House Index, or the percentage of houses positive for larvae, above 10 per cent shows a danger level, they added.

‘It is alarming that the DGHS survey found high mosquito density in Dhaka city areas in such extreme weather,’ said AM Zakir Hussain, a former director of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research.

‘The methods of fogging to kill adult mosquitoes in our country are completely outdated and wrong,’ he added.

The survey found a grave situation in 18 wards - 8 in DNCC and 10 in DSCC.

The DSCC wards are 13, 4, 52, 54, 16, 3, 5, 15, 17, and 23.

In DSCC ward 13, featuring Chamelibagh, Rajarbagh, Bijoynagar, Naya Paltan, Purana Paltan, and Shantinagar areas, the highest Breautu Index of 73.33 was recorded, much higher than the borderline high of 20. 

The DNCC wards 12, 13, 16, 20, 31, 32, 33, and 36, with ward number 12 featuring Ahmednagar, Shahalibagh, South Bishil, Paikpara, and Tolarbagh areas, recorded the highest BI at 43.33. 

DSCC chief health officer Fazle Shamsul Kabir told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they were yet to receive the survey findings.

‘If the Breautu Index was above 20 in the 29 wards, more dengue cases should have been reported. But we are getting no more than three patients under the  DSCC jurisdiction,’ he said. 

Jahangirnagar University zoology professor and vector management expert Kabirul Bashar fears a bigger dengue outbreak this year considering the high mosquito density in Dhaka city amid such a heatwave.

DGHS director Adnan said the average Breautu index was recorded at 18.89 in the DSCC against 16.39 in the DNCC. DSCC recorded an average of 14.98 in HI against 14.30 in DNCC.

‘The situation is not good in both cities considering the pre-monsoon season,’ he added.

Speaking at the DGHS event, former chairman of the Department of Medicine at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, ABM Abdullah, said that dengue could not be uprooted but could be controlled.

‘We need a coordinated effort to fight dengue. City corporations could not fight against dengue alone,’ he said, adding that other government agencies, including Rajdhani Unnyan Kartipakkha, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, and the Public Works Department, all have to work together.

DGHS director general Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, among other health directorate officials, spoke at the programme. 

At least 35 people died of dengue, and 2,795 people were hospitalised from January 1 to May 28 this year.

This is the highest hospitalisation for dengue in the first five months in 11 years, according to DGHS data. 

Dengue killed 1,705 people and sent 3,21,179 people to hospitals in 2023 alone, against 853 deaths and 2,44,246 patients’ hospitalisation between 2000 and 2022, DGHS data showed.