RESUMO
Dengue fever (DF) cases were reported in Delhi during August 2010. As the XIXth Commonwealth Games were to be held in Delhi in October 2010, entomological and community knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) studies were carried out to assist the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for better implementation of vector control activities in the city. A total of 495 houses were searched for Aedes aegypti breeding in all kinds of temporary and permanent water receptacles in both indoors and outdoors in a thickly-populated, illegally-constructed locality, named Sangam Vihar, in south Delhi. The overall House Index (HI), Container Index (CI) and Breteau Index (BI) were 44.44%, 19.01% and 91.92 respectively. For KAP, a pre-tested, structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Out of the 384 households surveyed, 156 were aware about dengue and only 12 households knew that virus was the causative agent for DF. A majority (378) of the households practised water storage and 48 of them stored water for more than one week. No preventive/control measures were adopted to prevent mosquito breeding in the water-holding containers by a majority of the households (45.57%). 57% of them did not know the biting habits of dengue vector mosquitoes. The results of the study indicated that the community’s knowledge about dengue fever, its transmission, vector breeding sources, biting habits and preventive measures was poor.
