Kulwinder Sandhu
Moga, October 15
To stop the spread of dengue and viral fever, the Health Department has started releasing gambusia (mosquito fish) in ponds of Moga district. Gambusia fish eat larvae of dengue-breeding mosquitoes and check the spread of the disease.
The gambusia species, popularly known as mosquito fish, is used in many countries as a bio-control measure to check the transmission of vector-borne diseases. “The district health officials have started releasing gambusia fish in ponds of the urban as well as rural areas in the district,” Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Sukhpreet Singh Brar said.
He said, “So far, gambusia fish has been released in 312 ponds. In rest of the 176 ponds, the fish will be released by the end of this month. There are a total of 488 ponds in the district.”
The Health Department has set up a gambusia breeding centre on the premises of the district hospital, in which 10,000 fish of this species would be raised by the October end this year.
The health officials said, “The use of gambusia against dengue mosquito breeding is a technique that has rarely been used in the district. The fish is not more than 7 cm in length and 1 cm in breadth. Gambusia is a freshwater fish, which humans do not mostly consume. The fish is omnivorous. It can breed at a faster pace than an invasive species. The fish particularly feeds on mosquito larvae and is not harmful to humans.”
Past experiments have suggested that a gambusia fish eats at least 100 larvae daily, which is quite a good number to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. This measure is also effective against malaria.
The health officials revealed that the department had taken 512 samples of blood, so far, out of which, 12 were found positive for dengue. One patient had died of the disease.
District Magistrate Kulwant Singh has directed officials of the Health Department and Municipal Corporation to conduct a door-to-door survey to drain out stagnant water from coolers, pots and other utensils. Residents are being instructed not to let water stagnate around their houses.
The Health Department is taking every possible step to check the spread of the disease. The SMO said dengue and malaria could be easily prevented by taking ample precautions.
