The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) yesterday urged people to control mosquitoes at households as the Zika risk is on the rise in the country, while record dengue cases were reported this year.
At least 4,058 people were infected with dengue, while nine of them died till September 30 this year. This is the highest annual figure reported since 2003, according to IEDCR. Dengue and Zika viruses are transmitted by the same vector -- Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“The government is conducting surveillance, but change in people's behaviour at the households is critical to prevent dengue and Zika,” IEDCR Director Prof Dr Meerjady Sabrina Flora said at a discussion.
IEDCR organised the discussion on vector-borne diseases -- Zika, dengue and chikanguniya -- with journalists in its auditorium in the capital.
She said Aedes bred in clean stagnant water, and therefore people at households had to make sure that water was not stored in pot plants, and advised removing discarded tires or other pots from within and outside households.
Using mosquito curtains and spraying insecticides too can be effective in destroying mosquitoes, Sabrina Flora said.
She said IEDCR would shortly sit with the city corporation officials to devise plans on how they could play their roles in controlling mosquitoes, but individual level awareness was very important.
The WHO on September 30 urged 11 Asian countries, including Bangladesh, to take decisive action to prevent, detect and respond to the Zika virus.
Zika virus infection is a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, it said.
Zika has not been proved yet fatal, but dengue can be. Vaccine for dengue has been approved by WHO, but it is not yet so available, said Dr Sabrina Flora.
Risks for Zika in Bangladesh are high because some 400 people, including 19 Bangladeshis in Singapore, have been infected with Zika. Cases of Zika were also reported in Malaysia, which is home to some six lakh Bangladeshis. Besides Zika cases were reported in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Zika also can be infected via sexual intercourse.
It advised pregnant women not to travel to areas of ongoing Zika virus transmission.
WHO National Consultant Dr Kazi Mohammad Hassan Ameen said the city corporations could destroy mosquito breeding places outside, not inside the households.
“So, there is a scope to think how they can work to change peoples' behaviours in preventing the vector-borne diseases,” he said at the discussion.
IEDCR Principal Scientific Officer M Salim Uzzaman and Senior Scientific Officer Dr ASM Alamgir also spoke.