PUNE/KOLHAPUR: Unplanned growth and poor water storage practices are fast turning the rural areas of the state into a dengue hotbed.Against last year’s 1,077 cases and a death, the virus has infected 2,186 people and killed 13 in rural areas between January 1 and October 14 this year, taking the state’s dengue case and death count to 6,948 and 29, respectively.Among the most-affected areas, the rural and urban parts of Kolhapur have emerged the worst-hit with a combined case and death tally of 1,701 and five, respectively. Even the rural parts of Pune, Nanded and Wardha were hit hard by the disease.In the state’s municipal corporation areas, besides Kolhapur, Greater Mumbai recorded maximum cases, followed by Nashik , Pune and Solapur. “Water scarcity is one of the key reasons for the steep rise in dengue cases this year. In districts facing drought-like conditions, people tend to store water, which often remains unchanged and uncovered, providing ample ground for dengue vector Aedes egypti mosquito to breed and spread,” state entomologist Mahendra Jagtap of the state health department told TOI.Low awareness about dengue fever, life cycle of its vector, disease causes and prevention are also at the root of rising cases in the rural areas. “Villagers practice preventive measures, which are inadequate. Health officials are using mass media tools to spread awareness. But these efforts, carried out in fits and starts, need to be stepped up,” health activist Sanjay Dabhade said.Kolhapur’s district health officer Yogesh Sale said, “After the peak in July and August, the cases of dengue have come down in the last one month. We have started to observe ‘mosquito breeding destruction day’ on every Thursday.”Kolhapur Municipal Corporation’s health officer Dilip Patil said, “The participation of the citizens is important. We acted on several builders and societies for facilitating mosquito breeding on their premises. The erratic rains also led to the emergence of mosquito-breeding sites.”The Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) had recently carried out a dengue prevalence study in collaboration with Vadu Rural Health Programme of KEM Hospital, Pune, under which the urbanized village was found more vulnerable to dengue infection when compared with its rural counterpart.“Dengue virus is entrenching faster in the rural areas. The main reason being rapid urbanization of small towns in rural Maharashtra,” NIV director Devendra Mourya had said in an earlier interview.

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