A study has found that bus terminals, depots and railway stations had the highest concentration of adult Aedes mosquitoes while the highest number of larvae bred inside unused tires.

The Communicable Disease Control (CDC) unit of the Directorate General of Health Services has come with the findings in a survey conducted between Jul 31 and Aug 4.

CDC Unit Director Dr Sanya Tahmina told Bangla Tribune that the study had been conducted by four groups of entomologists at bus terminals, slums, Metro Rail project areas, the Police Line area and hospitals of 14 areas in Dhaka.

The findings were published on the Health Directorate’s website on Sunday (Aug 11).  

CDC’s Malaria and Dengue Programme Manager Dr MM Akhteruzzaman said that 90 percent of Dhaka had high concentrations of the insect which had increased the chances of becoming infected with dengue.

The study aimed at finding chances of contracting the fever in places that had large number of public gatherings such as bus terminals, bus depots and railway stations because the implications could be important for other public places like schools where two or three mosquitoes were enough to infect large populations.

The study found Aedes larvae breeding in unused tires dumped randomly at bus depots and terminals and the abundant water-filled plastic containers in Metro Rail project areas.   

“We have informed the city corporation authorities about the findings and recommended that these open public places be brought under proper maintenance to prevent breeding of Aedes mosquitoes and spread of dengue,” said Dr MM Akhteruzzaman.

According to the Malaria and Dengue Programme Manager, time to time follow-ups to the study would be conducted after the Monsoon season as the study areas had a BI Bruto Index (the unit used to measure concentration of mosquitoes) value higher than 20.

In layman’s terms, this meant that 20 out of 100 containers surveyed in the study areas had Aedes larvae breeding in them.

Dr MM Akhteruzzaman said that they had come to realise that the study also needed to be conducted in other public places, including markets, under-construction buildings, to assess the concentration of Aedes mosquitoes there.