Bishakha Devnath and Helemul Alam

Dengue infections and Aedes mosquito prevalence are higher in areas with too many multistory buildings and shiny infrastructures adorned with decorative greeneries, although there are a few exceptions, analysis of two government surveys shows.

Take Baridhara, in Dhaka North City Corporation. It is one of the upscale areas in the capital and home to most foreign missions. But larvae presence in households is high here, and at least 50-75 people from this area have taken treatment for dengue so far.

In contrast, Gabtoli, a poorly maintained area inhabited mostly with low-income people, has so far seen 25-50 people taking dengue treatment. No Aedes larvae was found here during the survey last month.

In Baridhara, Aedes larvae was found in 50-70 percent buildings during the survey done by the health department. It is almost the same in Banani, Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2.

In Dhaka south, areas such as Meradia, Goran, Sayedabad, Muradpur and Hazaribagh have seen fewer patients admitted to hospitals than Lalmatia, Segunbagicha,