Vector borne diseases (VBD) are infectious diseases transmitted through insects such as mosquito, house fly, sand fly, lice, ticks, flea etc. Vectors can be classified as mechanical or biological vectors. Mechanical vectors like housefly pickup infectious agents on the surface of their bodies and transmit them through physical contact. Biological vectors like mosquitoes carry the pathogens within their bodies and transmit them to a new host while biting [1].

Vector borne diseases are prevalent all over the world, especially in tropical regions. With the introduction of insecticides, the VBDs were thought to be under control by the late 1960s. But following compliancy in continuing control measures & changing environment Vector borne diseases (VBD) again became a major Public Health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) brought VBDs into focus during the World Health day of 2014 [2].

Vector-borne diseases account for over 17% of all infectious diseases [3]. Among all disease-transmitting insects, the mosquito is the greatest menace, spreading malaria, dengue, yellow fever, lymphatic Filariasis and Japanese encephalitis among others. Up to 700 million people are infected and more than a million die each year from mosquito-borne illness [4]. Among these Malaria, Dengue, Lymphatic Filariasis, Kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis and Chikungunya are prevalent in India.

About 95% population in the country resides in malaria endemic areas and 80% of malaria reported in the country is confined to areas consisting 20% of population residing in tribal, hilly, difficult and inaccessible areas [5]. The Mosquito borne diseases pose an immense public health concern and are major impediments in the path of socioeconomic development. The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) was started to provide an integrated approach to the control of VBD particularly Mosquito borne diseases in the country.

Indicators have been developed at national level for monitoring of the program. The main strategy is integrated vector management which involves source reduction & environmental management, Personal protection, chemical and Biological control [6]. The mosquito breeding places include coconut shells, drainage, plantations, open wells, containers, vehicle tyres.

From each household one person who fulfilled the inclusion criteria was selected. Out of 186, 6 did not wish to participate or could not provide proper information. Thus 180 people took part in the study finally.

Data collection: The data was collected by a face to face interview using a semi structured interview schedule on knowledge about Mosquito borne diseases and the practice of Mosquito control measures. Data was entered in Microsoft excel Office 2007.

Statistical methods: Data was analyzed using PSPP version.0.10.2 and Frequencies were expressed.in percentages.

In this study, the most common age group was 41-60, which constituted 44.4% and 70% of the study participants, were female. Among all study participants 7(3.9%) had not received any schooling. Every one of the study participants knew that mosquitoes spread diseases. Dengue was the most frequent disease related with mosquito by the respondents i.e. by 146(81.1%).

However, none of them thought of Filariasis (Table -1). 93.9% of them were aware of breeding places of mosquito. Among the respondents, 113(62.7%) answered that coconut shells was the most common mosquito breeding place. 70.6% people said that there was no stagnation inside their compound wall. Among the rest, 66% said that coconut shells were reason for water stagnation inside their own compound wall.

61.1% people said that drainage was the reason for water stagnation outside their compound wall. Among the study participants, 128(71.1%) have seen mosquito larva in stagnant water around their house and among them 97(75.8%) persons have done something to kill larva. Most common method used against Mosquito Larva by these people was putting bleaching powder in the larva breeding places (39%) followed by source reduction (26.5%).

Among the respondents 44.4% strongly felt that children are more susceptible to mosquito borne diseases. More than half (56.1%) of people said that prevention of stagnation is an important method to prevent these diseases. 71.1% people had done something to prevent mosquito breeding and they used bleaching powder (57%) as the main method(Table-2).

In a study in Jamnagar district [7] 38% of the houses had open para-domestic drainage system that is conducive for mosquito breeding, while 66.6% households had open drainage for mosquito breeding in our study. Open drainage is a common breeding area in Kanyakumari district because of poor public health engineering and improper maintenance.

62% people told coconut shells as the most common breeding area for mosquito in our study but only 2.31% said coconut shells in a study conducted in Rajkot district, Gujarat [8]. In Gujarat ditches and vehicle tyres are the most common mosquito breeding places. This difference might be due abundance of coconut trees in our study locality.

71.1% in our study have seen larva and among them 39% were using bleaching powder as the anti-larvicidal method, which is not the advised method. This shows that although the public knew the importance of Controlling the mosquito & are willing to get involved personally there is lake of guidance towards the proper preventive methods. 56.1% people said that prevention of stagnation is the main method to prevent mosquito borne diseases, but in a study conducted in Rajkot district of Gujarat [8] only 17.59% respondents had a similar opinion.

For them larvicidal spraying, and personal protective measures was their common idea for preventing mosquito borne disease. . In our study, 71.1% have taken initiative to prevent mosquito breeding. However, 57% people were using bleaching powder to reduce mosquito breeding which is not an ideal method. Only 35% of the households stated that they have taken measures to prevent mosquito breeding in a study within the same state conducted in Chennai [9].

This may be suggestive of better community responsibility & participation in rural areas. Also in rural areas of Kanyakumari district, in most households the family owns at least a small area around the house, and hence they will have the authority & responsibility to prevent mosquito breeding.

30%, 13.43%, 50.4% have mentioned the use of mosquito coils in studies conducted in Jamnagar district, Rajkot district and Tibet respectively [7,8,10] and in our study 47% use mosquito coils. 2.7% people uses bed nets in a study conducted in Thiruvananthapuram [11] and in our study 11% people uses bed nets.