Their destination: the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), in Gwalior.

“We took a few mosquitoes (samples) from different areas of Delhi. This was done to know the viral load in these mosquitoes,” MCD’s health committee chairman Dr V K Monga said. “It occurs at times that the mosquito population is high but the viral load is low, and on other occasions even a few mosquitoes with high viral load can cause a dengue outbreak.

“We wanted to be clear on this subject.”

Dr Monga was part of the seven-member municipal team that went to Gwalior on Wednesday.

As conventional vector-control measures were rendered ineffective due to heavy rain and an early onset of monsoon this year, the civic agency decided to approach DRDE to help tackle the looming menace.

Organised under the Life Sciences directorate of Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDE is primarily involved in research and development of detection and protection against toxic chemical and biological agents.

To mosquito control in areas with high-density breeding, DRDE will soon send 4000 OVI Traps (an ‘egg trapping device’ to catch pregnant mosquitoes).

The MCD team visited various departments of DRDE — specifically Entomology, Virology, Biotechnology and Microbiology. The municipal officials also had a detailed discussion with DRDE director Dr R Vijayaraghavan, and HODs and other senior officials on various aspects of vector- and water-borne diseases.  

The OVI traps work on a simple principle: they contain a chemical to lure mosquitoes by creating a false sense of security in the female mosquito, inducing it to lay eggs in the trap. The trap is an ‘attracticide’ — a mixture of a biological chemical — that attracts female mosquitoes to the breeding site, or the Insect Growth Regulator (IGR), that prevents those eggs from hatching.

The method, Dr Monda said, is effective because the regulator not only prevents hatching but even if some eggs do hatch, the larvae cannot attain adulthood and therefore cannot infect people. “This will also give us an accurate idea of breeding index in different areas,” he said. “We will get 4,000 OVI traps within a fortnight; each ward in the city will have 15 such traps.”