Industrial waste, main threat to dengue control - MRI

Nadira Gunatilleke

The latest Medical Research Institute (MRI) inspection detected that industrial waste poses the main threat to dengue control in urban areas, especially in the Colombo city. Controlling dengue has become impossible with industrial waste collected from all over the Colombo city, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman industrial waste is collected in Panchikawatta, Maradana, Kolonnawa, Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia.

MRI inspected around 400 places and found many mosquito breeding sites located in places with industrial waste.

Discarded computers and computer parts, discarded photocopy machines and their parts, motor spare parts were the main industrial waste items found during the study. Industrial wastes have been dumped in home gardens, state institutions and private companies.

Industrial waste help store water making it an excellent environment for mosquitoes to breed in, he said.

Earlier MRI found construction sites and half built buildings with concrete slabs which provided an excellent mosquito breeding environment.

The largest number of mosquito breeding sites were discovered in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Councils during the previous inspection, he added.