DNCC starts using 4th generation larvicide against Culex mosquitoes today
The DNCC will spray the larvicide, gradually, on 629 Culex hotspots across the city
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is going to start using a fourth generation larvicide, Novaluron today to control Culex mosquitoes in the upcoming winter season.
Sources at the DNCC said the authorities have found evidence that Novaluron remains effective for around 90 days once applied.
The DNCC will spray the larvicide, gradually, on 629 Culex hotspots across the city.
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The authority concerned is going to use the larvicide at the field level as it has found satisfactory results by testing it for three months under the supervision of an entomologist at Jahangirnagar University and the management of the DNCC.
Tahmina Akter, associate professor of zoology at Jahangirnagar University, told The Business Standard, "The larvicide will take some time to kill the mosquito larvae, but it will not allow the larvae to grow."
"Additionally, it will work without harming the ecosystem," she added.
Asked if Novaluron is effective against other mosquitos like Aedis, Tahmina Akter said, "Insecticides that destroy Culex mosquitoes usually are very effective in controlling Aedis mosquitoes, but further research is being conducted in this regard."
The DNCC claimed that Novaluron is a safe insecticide which works only on animals with chitin – a fibrous substance which is the major constituent in the exoskeleton of arthropods. It does not have an adverse effect on other animals.
DNCC Deputy Chief Health Officer Lt Col Md Golam Mostafa Sarwar told The Business Standard, "We used this insecticide at the end of July on the water accumulated under the DNCC's corona isolation centre in Mohakhali. No mosquito grew there for more than two and half months."
He further said they found the larvicide very effective when they used it on the DNCC's store house in Gulshan, so they decided to apply it in the field.
Initially the larvicide will be sprayed in the Uttara, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, and Gulshan areas in the capital.
The DNCC has imported 500 kilogrammes of Novaluron from England and it will import more of it if it finds the product effective in controlling mosquitoes at the field level.
