Shillong: With malaria being a perennial
menace in the state, the Meghalaya government has turned to a fish variety to kill mosquito at larval stage.
State health department has planned to distribute a fish,
Gambusia Affinis, which eats mosquito larvae.
"More than 2000 carps of the fish were released at the
fishery complex at Chasingre near Tura on Tuesday," West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal said.
The fish breeds fast and one carp give birth to nearly
2,000 in three months.
"After breeding them, we plan to distribute it to the
people through the public health centres," Goyal said.
He said a recent survey indicated that there were around
9,000 stagnant water bodies in West Garo Hills district alone,
which are vulnerable to breeding malarial mosquitoes.
Gambusia, also called mosquito fish, is a natural
predator of mosquito larvae and a large fish eat more than 200
larvae in an hour.
According to a health department study, the prevalence of
malaria is about 16,656 per one lakh population which is five
times more than the national average of 3697.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 13:48