DHS director Sanjeev Dalvi, speaking at an event, said statistics of the number of vector borne diseases in the State has decreased tremendously. He said over 1,000 cases were registered six years ago and this reduced to 834 cases in the past couple of years and last year, only 200 cases of vector borne diseases including malaria and dengue were reported.
“There has certainly been a reduction in the number of cases and this is primarily due to awareness on how to prevent these diseases. Since it is the monsoon, rain water tends to get collected,” Dalvi said, but added that awareness campaigns on precautionary measures to be adopted during the season have helped.
Water collected in plastic bottles, scrap and unused tyres, flower pots and barrels can serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry diseases like malaria and dengue. Earlier last week, two people in Vasco died due to an illness suspected to be dengue. However, Dalvi was quick to point that reports to the blood tests of the two that died were still awaited thus making it difficult to point to whether it was dengue that killed them or not.
Health officials in Vasco began a door-to-door campaign of collecting blood samples and scanning nearby mosquito breeding sites which were cleared.
