Jamshedpur, June 24: East Singhbhum district administration has issued high alert in the district in view of influx of the dengue virus across the district. Out of 14 blood samples, only one tested positive for dengue. The report was made available by the microbiology department of MGM Medical College in Dimna. The positive case at the Tata Main Hospital was that of a middle-aged female patient who hailed from Golmuri.
Sources went on to inform that several suspected cases of dengue in the last 48 hours have prompted the health department to issue an alert for vector borne diseases in the district.
An official informed that the administration will launch a special drive to create awareness on dengue and the Health Department will monitor the onset of the disease.
The alert was issued by East Singhbhum unit of integrated diseases surveillance program (IDSP). Dengue and viral fever is spreading across the steel city, with affected people continuing to pour into hospitals and nursing homes.
Doctors in the city blame the rise in dengue cases to the deteriorating hygene in the city. They said that if the civic bodies do nothing, the number of cases could spiral out of control.
However, the resurfacing of dengue positive cases has prompted the East Singhbhum district health department to direct the district filaria for a change in strategy adopting to counter vector (Aedes Aegypti) menace.
The department which earlier used to only spray larvicidal apart from undertaking cleanliness exercise will be opting for destroying unused containers (identified vector breeding centers) in the affected areas and educating people on not allowing water to stagnate in residential areas.
From district health department records, in the year 2010, over 10,000 viral cases were reported in the district in the monsoon period while there were four deaths due to dengue. The figure rose to 15,000 in 2011, mostly from chikungunya and dengue, with one death due to dengue.
“We need to understand that mosquitoes that carry the virus of dengue do not come from outside, rather they generate from the household things like flower-pots, coolers water, rejected tyre kept on the roof top or in the corner of the garden. So we must ensure that there is no such place where water is stagnant for sometime,” said a health official.
