Summary:
Headed by Jayalakshmi Krishnan, assistant professor, the five-member team including students found that aedes aegypti has been very vigorously spreading dengue on Minicoy island. TRICHY: The Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) in Tiruvarur has found high density of aedes aegypti mosquitoes on one of the 10 inhabited islands in Lakshadweep resulting in a high number of dengue cases there. As many as 260 people had tested positive for dengue in the past three months in Minicoy.The study funded by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has been going on for the past 18 months on Lakshadweep islands. This may be attributed to the stringent vector control measures implemented on Lakshadweep islands by public health authorities,” she said.Project assistant P Bala said the project was an altogether different experience and full of challenges as they had to withstand rough weather and adverse climatic conditions during the visit. Making periodic visits to these 10 islands, the team identified 16 mosquito species out of which seven were identified as vector mosquitoes capable of spreading diseases like dengue and Chikungunya.While it was found only in Minicoy, the other nine islands had hardly any cases of dengue or other vector-borne diseases despite having aedes albopicta species in large numbers which too is capable of transmitting dengue..