Rawalpindi:It is time for individuals to take extra care to avoid dengue fever because after a significant fall in temperature, mosquitoes including ‘aedes aegypti’, the vector that causes dengue fever may move to inside homes and offices in search of relatively warmer places to rest and bite.
A continuous fall in temperature in this region of the country including the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and adjoining districts is being recorded and according to health experts, it may make mosquitoes unable to bite and feed on humans outside homes particularly at night and early in the morning.
The epidemiological findings show that the existing weather condition, the fall in temperature causes mosquitoes to move to relatively warmer places inside homes, offices and even vehicles where their biting ability would remain unaffected. It is important that mosquitoes including dengue vectors need to mount and grip human skin to bite and feed and for the purpose, they need significant strength. The fall in temperature to a specific level, below 16 degrees Celsius, weakens the mosquitoes’ joints making them unable to mount and feed.
Health experts say that the number of cases of dengue fever may not register a significant decline at least for another four to five weeks because the fall in temperature would not affect mosquitoes’ biting ability inside homes and offices as the indoor environment remains warmer enough for mosquitoes to bite and feed on humans at least till the end of November.
Experts believe that after a fall in temperature, the mosquitoes move to warmer places like veranda, kitchens and bedrooms for feed and survival and it is time for the individuals to take extra care to avoid mosquito bites.
