Dengue: Over 4K cases reported in state so far, alert issued to districts

KOLKATA: At a time when over 4,200 people have been affected with dengue across the state so far and the cases have been increasing at an alarming rate in the past week, the state government has issued an alert to various districts asking them to strictly undertake anti-dengue drive and cleaning of garbage on a daily basis, particularly in areas where cases have been reported in the past two to three weeks.

According to the state government sources, the mostly-affected districts include Kolkata, North 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Jalpaiguri. More than 540 dengue cases had been reported in the state in the past 7 days. The number of dengue cases this year crossed the figure registered during this period last year. Over 4 per cent of those, who had undertaken dengue tests in the past week, eventually tested positive for dengue. Over 12,000 samples were tested in the past 7 days. Health department will keep a tab on the anti-dengue drives carried out by the civic bodies.

Health department data cited that more than 160 dengue patients were currently undergoing treatment at various government hospitals. About 100 fresh dengue cases were reported from Howrah in the past 7 days, while Kolkata saw 74 new cases during this period. North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Jalpaiguri had registered 87, 70 and 30 new cases respectively in the past one week.

Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi on Thursday held a high-level meeting with the senior health officials while reviewing the preparedness of the department and various district administrations as well.

All the districts, where the infection rate is higher, have been asked to follow the guidelines laid down by the Health department. Various civic bodies have been asked to remove garbage and also to put adequate mechanisms to properly check surveillance on a day-to-day basis.

The civic bodies and the administrations in the block-level have also been directed to lay emphasis on generating awareness among the people so that there is no accumulated water in the localities. People in the affected areas have been urged to put up mosquito nets while going to sleep.

In the wake of a steep rise in dengue cases in some pockets, the state Health department has also asked various districts to form a monitoring team, which will intensify the surveillance against the vector-borne diseases.

The vector control cell of the Health department has been collecting data from all the districts on a regular basis and monitoring the situation. Dr Gopeswar Mukherjee, a senior pathologist in the city said if someone suffers from fever, he or she must consult a doctor.

One has to undergo tests, if he or she complains about head and body aches alongside high fever. Vomiting tendency and eruption of rashes in the body can be symptoms of dengue. Dengue infected patients can also complain of bleeding from nose and mouth, Dr Mukherjee warned.