Jamshedpur : East Singhbhum health department has issued high alert in the district in view of influx of the viral diseases across the district.
Sources went on to inform that three positive cases of Japanese Encephalitis in the last 24 hours have prompted the health department to issue an alert for vector borne diseases in the district.
The alert issued by the office of the district civil surgeon Vibha Sharan following suggestion by the district unit of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) aims at spreading the word of caution to all the 30 private and government hospitals in the district, asking them to monitor patients with symptoms and file reports 24×7.
One confirmed cases each of Japanese encephalitis (JE) have been reported from Tata Main Hospital (Bistupur), MGM Medical College and Hospital (Sakchi) and Mercy Hospital (Baridih) in the last 24 hours which has prompted for the health alert.
Two out of three confirmed cases are receiving medical attention at the respective health centers and one of them has been released after treatment. Anuj Solanki son of Lalit Solanki a resident of Khutadih in Sonari is undergoing treatment at TMH while Aditya Kumar son of Baldev Singh a resident of Jemco near Telco was released today from MGM Hospital while Fakir Mundi (7) a native of Purulia in West Bengal who was visiting his relative at Birsanagar is admitted at Mercy Hospital.
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.