Kolkata, July 2 -- The Kolkata Municipal Corporation's Vector Control department has detected the presence of Aedes vittatus, another mosquito species capable of transmitting dengue and chikungunya, within the city.
Till the discovery of this new vector, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have been known to cause vector-borne diseases in the city.
Debashis Biswas, OSD & Ex-Officio Chief Vector Control Officer of KMC said that the larvae were found during a vector control drive at Harish Neogi Road under Ward 14 of KMC.One of the vector control officers had found the larvae in a flower pot where a small amount of water had accumulated. "The same were brought to our laboratory, and we reared them till development into an adult mosquito. Following this, it was examined through our digital microscope and was identified as Aedes vittatus. The six white dots on the surface of the thoracic region is a striking feature of this mosquito," said Biswas. The species is found in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Southern Europe, South America, the Caribbean and North America.
Aedes vittatus is a species of mosquito that was first described in 1861 as Culex vittatus from specimens collected on Corsica.
This mosquito species is also capable of transmitting Zika and yellow fever, though cases of these diseases have been extremely rare in the city. According to a report by the KMC Health department, Kolkata has recorded 116 dengue cases so far this year-a 90 per cent decline compared to the same period in 2023.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.