Berhampur, Sept. 5: Entomologists from Bhubaneswar, who are touring the district to sensitise people about dengue, have asked the Berhampur Municipal Corporation to take steps to remove containers where water accumulates and becomes the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

V.N.B. Rao and Rabi Shankar, the two state entomologists from Bhubaneswar, found many tyres and containers lying unused on the corporation office compound and town police station.

“These are the general breeding sources of mosquitoes and must be removed immediately to check the rise in dengue vector,” they said. They said that reduction of vector breeding sites from the source was necessary.

Health officer Subhakanta Das said the corporation had launched a campaign against dengue at the micro level.

“We have visited various sites, particularly motor repairing workshops, and have told people to keep their premises clean. We have also sought the help of the police to chalk out a plan.”

Yesterday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik held a video conference with the officials and enquired about the steps being taken in urban Berhampur as well as in the rural areas of Ganjam to curb dengue.

“New scientific insights into dengue vector ecology and disease transmission patterns, together with targeted use of environmental management strategies, may offer improved potential to combat dengue, the world’s fastest growing vector-borne disease. Dengue, together with associated dengue haemorrhagic fever, is the viral disease that is most affecting the people,” Rao said.

“It is practically impossible to conduct door-to-door survey and the health officer has no magic wand. People themselves must keep their environment clean,” he said.

“The Aedes mosquitoes breed primarily in artificial water containers. The mosquito’s lifecycle is closely associated with human activity. Larval habitats are increasing rapidly in urban areas. Since there is no curative treatment for dengue, targeted environmental and ecosystem management is increasingly relevant. Careful local assessment of the ecology of Aedes larvae and pupae can help target environmental management and other control measures towards the most productive categories of breeding sites. This can be achieved using surveys to measure ‘pupal productivity’ to identify the categories from which the majority of adult mosquitoes emerge,” Rao said.