Journal of Mosquito Research 2015, Vol.5, No.17, 1-10
1
Research Article Open Access
Ento-epidemiological characterization of Dengue in Uttarakhand (India)
Manas Sarkar
1,2
, Kaushal Kumar
1
, AK Sharma
1
, Avanish K Gupta
3
1
Centre for Medical Entomology and Vector Management, National Centre for Disease Control, 22-Sham Nath Marg, Delhi – 110054, India
3
Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (State Surveillance Unit), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
1,2
Corresponding author current address: Research & Development Division, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. Vikhroli (East), Mumbai-400079, INDIA
Corresponding author email
Journal of Mosquito Research, 2015, Vol.5, No.17 doi: 10.5376/jmr.2015.05.0017
Received: 24 Aug., 2015
Accepted: 12 Oct., 2015
Published: 26 Oct., 2015
Copyright
©
2015 Sarkar et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Sarkar M., Kumar K., Sharma AK., and Gupta A K., 2015, Ento-epidemiological characterization of Dengue in Uttarakhand (India), Journal of Mosquito
Research, Vol.5, No.17 1
-
10 (doi
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Dengue/Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is the most rapidly spreading vector-borne infection all over
the world. Uttarakhand (India) is the prime destination for national and international tourists. Here we assessed the epidemiological
characteristics and entomological parameters of dengue/DHF in Uttarakhand (India) using in-depth statistical methods to measure
risk of dengue epidemics.
METHODS: we surveyed total 11 localities each in Nainital and Dehradun districts and calculated different entomological indices
and analyzed epidemiological characteristics of Dengue in these areas.
RESULTS: There was an epidemic of dengue during 2010 with total 4140 laboratory-confirmed dengue cases, about 5347% increase
of cases compared to preceding years. Out of six dengue-prone districts of Uttarakhand, Nainital and Dehradun were the worst
affected districts during this epidemic (Nainital = 862 and Dehradun = 2913; Total = 3775 cases), an incidence rate of 142.5 per
100000 population. The incidence rate in male (169.9 per 100000) is higher than in female (112.3 per 100000) and dengue cases were
predominant in the age group 21-30 years. Dehradun (77% of total cases) was more dengue prone area than Nainital. However, all
entomological indices are relatively higher in Nainital than Dehradun. Nevertheless, this difference in the indices is not significant
(p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, we hypothesize that the epidemic intensity or severity of 2010-dengue outbreak in Nainital and
Dehradun are independent of entomological indices.
Keywords
Dengue;
Aedes
; vector borne diseases; entomological index; India
Introduction
Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is the
most rapidly spreading vector borne infection all over
the world. Its occurrence has been registered in 124
countries with 3.61 billion people are at risk for
infection and 500 million people infected each year. It
was estimated that nearly 36 million cases of dengue
fever and 2.1 million cases of severe DHF occur
annually, and nearly 21,000 deaths are likely attributable
to dengue. It also exerts huge societal and economic
costs to endemic countries, where mostly vector
control strategies have been unsuccessful.
Dengue virus commonly transmitted by the adult
female
Aedes aegypti
L. mosquitoes. However, the
virus is sometime transmitted by
Aedes albopictus
(Skuse)
in some locations around the globe
(
cf
Strickman &
Kittayapong 2002). Vector control remains the only
way to prevent dengue transmission (Guzman &
Kouri 2002; Deen 2004; Guzman et al
.
2004).
Entomological surveillance of dengue has been
standardized on different indices based on the simple
determination of the presence or absence of
Aedes
larvae either in each container or somewhat in each
house (Tun-Lin et al
.
1996; Focks 2003). The house
index (HI, percentage of houses positive for larvae),
container index (CI, percentage of containers positive
for larvae) and Breteau index (BI, number of positive
containers per 100 houses) have become the most
widely used indices (Reiter & Gubler 1997).
Dengue is described as ‘endemic’ in many countries in
the South East Asian region – which means that cases
occur every year, although there is a significant
