Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, July 23: The civic bodies of twin cities have sought public support to tackle dengue menace.

Larvae of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which cause dengue and prefer clean water in urban environment to lay eggs, were found at two places in Cuttack.

Authorities of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) have appealed to the people to maintain cleanliness in their surroundings and destroy anything containing stagnant water.

“A four-member team of the Regional Medical Research Centre today visited a number of places in Cuttack and found larvae and adult Aedes aegypti mosquitoes,” said city health officer of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) P.K. Pradhan. He said the larvae had been found from two places — Nima Sahi and Jhola Sahi — in ward No. 21 and 23.

Fresh five dengue cases were reported in Cuttack today. So far, 68 dengue positive cases have been detected at Mangalabag, Purighat, Pithapur and nearby localities. “Adequate measures have been undertaken to check and destroy the breeding sites while fogging operation is on at the affected areas twice a day,” Pradhan said.

The spurt in dengue cases has prompted the district administration to intensify awareness drive keeping in view the fact that the vectors breed in fresh and stagnant waters. School children and NCC and other volunteers will be roped in to launch the campaign.

“We need public support to check the menace,” said CMC commissioner Nihar Ranjan Mohapatra.

A Congress delegation led by city president Mohammad Moquim today threatened a stir, alleging failure on part of the civic body to contain the dengue outbreak. “The CMC has failed to wake up to the dengue call and it is yet to carry out fogging operations in the affected areas,” said Moquim.

Of the three patients, admitted with dengue-like symptoms at Capital Hospital, two were found negative. “The single positive case at our hospital is a student from Rasulgarh. He studies in Cuttack and travels to the city daily. As dengue is a disease related to travel history of the patient, we suspect that he might have received the bite from Cuttack,” said Capital Hospital director S.C. Mallick.

Health officer of the BMC Chandrika Prasad Das said: “While only one positive case was reported from Capital Hospital, others might have been from private hospitals.” He, however, appealed to the people to destroy stagnant water stock around their houses.

Health minister Damodar Rout said: “The state government has deployed 2,000 volunteers to spread awareness on dengue and how to check the menace. In Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, 120 each such volunteers are deployed. We have also appealed to all the panchayati raj institutions to be on alert and spread awareness on dengue.”