Dengue: 150 cases reported in city last week, positivity rate above 10%

KOLKATA: The city hospitals have been witnessing a sharp rise in the admission of dengue patients with the positivity rate crossing 10 per cent. Dengue positivity rate now far outnumbers the Covid positivity rate that stands below 2 per cent in the state.

There has been an increase in malaria cases in the city as well. The only silver lining for the health professionals is that the critical cases are much on the lower side this time.

More than 150 dengue patients have been detected in the city in the past one week.

According to Health department sources, more than 50 dengue patients are undergoing treatment at various government hospitals while more than 150 dengue cases are undergoing treatment in various private hospitals in the city. Till Monday, the total dengue infected cases in the city stood at around 572.

According to health experts, delayed diagnosis in dengue cases may increase the risk factors as the number of cases continues to jump.

Doctors in the city said that overall fever cases have gone up this year. A combination of viral infections is on the rise in the state, apart from dengue and malaria.

"A sizable number of fever patients are suffering from dengue. They have symptoms like high fever and body aches. Dengue cases have been reported from various pockets. Health condition of some of the patients is turning critical as there has been a delayed diagnosis," said Dr Gopeswar Mukherjee, a senior pathologist in Kolkata.

Sources in the Health department said that most of the fever patients are found to be suffering from dengue or influenza. Some of them are turning critical as there has been a delay in tests. A majority of patients coming to the hospitals with fever are found to be dengue patients. Critical care units are mostly occupied by dengue and influenza patients and not Covid. Platelets are dropping fast in some of the patients. Around 5,000 patients have been found dengue positive in the state so far.

Kolkata, Howrah, North 24-Parganas have the highest number of dengue cases.

State health department issued treatment guidelines to all the hospitals. It may be mentioned here that the Health department already asked various blood banks to preserve platelets as dengue may continue to haunt people till November this year. Dengue patients can bleed from

any parts of their body if

platelet drops below 20,000. Transfusion of platelets is a must in such cases. Platelet must be given to a patient as per his/her body weight.