India : MCD exhausts its larvicide stock, will to combat dengue

Article from Hindustan Times :

" Be prepared for another big dengue outbreak this year. After refusing to fumigate the city citing health concerns and court directions, the MCD has now discovered that it has run out of bio-larvicides to kill mosquito larvae. Thus, it can't even implement its back-up plan.

After the 2006 deng ue outbreak, the Supreme Court had advised the MCD against carrying out fumigation routinely. Inhaling chemicals can cause respiratory distress, especially in children, elderly and pregnant women, the court had said. "It can aggravate the condition of asthmatics and cause constriction of airway, bronchospasm in normal people, if inhaled for long" said Dr Bir Singh, professor, community medicine, AIIMS.

But now the option of using biolarvicides does not exist, at least not for another three weeks. "We have exhausted the larvicide stock after spraying thousands of homes and have placed order for new ones. We will get fresh stock within 20 days," said VK Monga, chairman of the MCD's health committee."