DSCC runs out of insecticide amid worst dengue outbreak

Dhaka South City Corporation has run out of insecticide used to kill adult mosquitoes at the height of the country's worst dengue outbreak this year, which saw record numbers of infections and deaths last month.With its own supply exhausted, the DSCC was forced to borrow 80 drums of insecticide, each containing 200 litres, from neighbouring Dhaka North City Corporation - far short of the 270 drums it had originally requested.The shortage has raised questions over how an agency responsible for controlling the mosquito that transmits dengue found itself without sufficient chemicals during the peak of the outbreak.City corporations and other local authorities in Bangladesh carry out mosquito control in two stages - spraying larvicide on stagnant water to kill mosquito larvae before they mature, and fogging with adulticide to kill adult mosquitoes.It is the second chemical, used in the fogging machines residents are accustomed to seeing on their streets, that has run out at the DSCC.DSCC officials said the corporation requires around 50 litres of pure insecticide concentrate a day, but its existing stock could no longer meet the demand.Asked why the adulticide stock had been exhausted during the outbreak, DSCC chief executive officer  Md Khaybar Rahman did not directly explain the shortage.Instead, he said the city corporation was procuring six lakh litres of adulticide and that its stock of larvicide remained sufficient.'We are testing the insecticide in three layers. Two tests found it effective, while after completing another test, we will finalise it,' he said. His response, however, focused on testing the incoming supply rather than explaining why the existing stock had run out.DSCC officials, speaking separately, said the corporation had failed to give proper attention to insecticide procurement despite mosquito control being one of its core responsibilities.Regular fogging disappearsThe shortage has been visible to residents, who say regular fogging operations have disappeared from parts of the DSCC area.'I saw no fogging in my area in the past week,' said Julkan Nayan, a homeowner in Paltan, echoing complaints from residents in other parts of the corporation's jurisdiction.Under Bangladesh's local government structure, city corporations and municipalities are responsible for mosquito control, particularly against Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue, while the Directorate General of Health Services is responsible for treating dengue patients.The division of responsibilities means any lapse in mosquito control can add to pressure on the health system, which is already struggling to cope with the outbreak.The insecticide shortage comes amid a sharp rise in dengue cases nationwide. The DGHS reported two more deaths and 988 hospitalisations from dengue in the 24 hours to Saturday.The latest figures brought the cumulative toll since January to 113 deaths and 41,032 hospitalisations nationwide.The DSCC area accounted for the highest number among individual jurisdictions, with 39 deaths and 5,400 hospitalisations reported at hospitals under its administration. Officials, however, cautioned that not all those patients were residents of the DSCC area.Entomologist Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, a former president of the Zoological Society of Bangladesh, said the shortage during the monsoon, when Aedes breeding generally increases, indicated a failure of planning.'Dengue is now a public health emergency. Authorities failed to plan properly on this,' he said. He said authorities should act more quickly whenever dengue cases began rising instead of waiting for insecticide stocks to run out during an outbreak.