ANANTAPUR: Awareness among people on safe sanitary measures can prevent the incidence of chikungunya and other mosquito-related diseases, according to District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Y. Swaroop Kumar Reddy.

He reiterated on Thursday that the 120 and odd deaths since January with symptoms of chikungunya were caused by other diseases. Clinical analyses of samples of blood and serum collected from several such cases had proved that they had died of diseases other than chikungunya, he noted.

The DM&HO contested the claims of people's organisations that about five lakh people in the district were suffering from chikungunya. As per statistics, only 6,000 people had been affected in 200 villages.

Lack of awareness among the public was leading to confusion over the disease, he said. Cases of malaria and viral fever were also being treated as chikungunya cases, he said. The Health Department conducted medical camps in affected villages. As many as 40 villages in Kadiri and Nallamada areas reported a high incidence of malaria and viral fever cases, he said.

Preventive measures

Preventive measures taken up by the Government included supply and spraying of malathion indoors and spraying of pyrethrum mixed with kerosene outdoors. Spraying of pyrethrum or fogging would, however, reduce the mosquito population only by 20 to 30 per cent, he said.

Every gram panchayat was sanctioned Rs. 10,000 for preventive measures like cleaning drains and spraying pyrethrum, besides supplying bio-insecticide.

About 300 litres of pyrethrum was supplied to gram panchayats along with kerosene for making the spray mixture. Besides, malathion was sprayed in 50,000 houses with 30 power sprayers given by the Agriculture Department.

But community preventive measures by gram panchayats had not been taken up properly, the DM&HO felt. Fogging in the urban areas had also not been taken up due to lack of fogging machines except in Anantapur for the last one week, he said.

In all, 3.7 lakh doses of homeo pills were supplied to primary health centres for distribution, he added.

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