Bhubaneswar, Aug. 7: A dengue awareness drive was launched in the capital today after health department officials sounded an alert.

The drive — launched by the city health office of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) — began from Cuttack Road (Rasulgarh to Kalpana Square) with authorities asking automobile service centres and shops not to allow stagnant water to accumulate in tyres and tubes.

City health officer Chandrika Prasad Das said: “The drive started this morning with officials asking automobile service centres not to let stagnant water accumulate in their surroundings.

“Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and the larva takes around seven to eight days to grow into adult mosquitoes. We told them to ensure that their surroundings are cleaned at least once every week. The awareness drive will continue in other parts of the city tomorrow.”

The Aedes mosquitoes that carry the dengue virus are ‘peri-domestic’ in nature, which means they survive around a house and lay their eggs in clean water. So, even local residents will be asked to keep their surroundings clean.

“The civic authorities will also carry out special measures to clean solid wastes from the transit points near every colony regularly so that the mosquitoes don’t get any breeding ground,” said Das.

Scientists of the city-based Regional Medical Research Centre have found that the Aedes mosquito is present almost everywhere in the state. However, the disease is caused only when an infected mosquito bites a person.

There are three species of the Aedes mosquito in Orissa —Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Aedes vittatus. Out of these, the Aedes albopictus is the predominant species in the state.