BBMP, state health department launch pilot study, install 120 ovitraps in Gopalpura to curb dengue

Bengaluru: The state health department and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday launched a pilot study to control mosquito breeding by installing 120 ovitraps, or mosquito traps, in Gopalpura near Majestic.

These ovitraps are fixed in 25-foot distances to control the spread of dengue, Zika virus and malaria in the area. New ovitraps will replace the ones installed on Monday after four weeks, as a part of the department's two-month study. The pot-shaped ovitraps or bio ecotraps will be filled with water and a pesticide named Pyriproxyfen that will attract Aedes mosquitoes to lay their eggs and then kill both the adult mosquitoes and the eggs.

Launching the study, health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that this is following the model implemented at Dharavi in Mumbai. "If this pilot study yields good results, we will implement this everywhere in the city because it is very important to control the spread of mosquitoes since it affects especially poor and working class people who live in highly dense areas," he said.

The Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) and M S Ramaiah Medical College will also be part of the study. The study will also reveal the density of mosquito breeding in the area, thereby providing both the departments near-accurate data that they can use to devise better control strategies.

Dr Syed Sirajuddin Madani, chief health officer, BBMP, Mohammad Shariff, deputy director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, Dr Manoranjan Hegde, BBMP west zone health officer and others were present at the launch.

Antimicrobial resistance programme

To address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the state, the drugs control department must undertake drives to check the activity of pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies and the quality of drugs produced and sold, the health minister said on Monday.

"We have instructed the drugs control department to devise a programme to check the quality of drugs being sold in the state. It is in its final stages. The drugs control department needs to work efficiently,” he said.