Jamshedpur, Aug 25:After heavy rains and floods, viral fevers are worrying the people of the city. According to a medical and health department official, cases of vector borne diseases have been registered. Besides, people are getting skin diseases and other ailments as drainage water is mixing with floodwater. The viral fevers are causing upper respiratory tract infections and seasonal influenza.
The district administration has geared up health measures to tackle the spate of the viral fever, which has assumed an epidemic proportion. The deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum, Vijaya Jadhav asked health department officials to take stock of the situation arising out of the burgeoning cases of viral fever.
She gave necessary instructions to the district civil surgeon for tackling the spread of the disease. The district malaria officer and special officers of three civic bodies– Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee ( JNAC), Mango Notified Area Committee ( MNAC) and Jugsalai Municipality have been asked to keep a look out.
On the basis of data gathered from various hospitals and nursing homes across the city, the district administration concluded that the prevailing viral fever is air-borne. Keeping this in view the district civil surgeon’s office decided to undertake a massive fogging operation in the city.
” We have decided to start fogging operations from tomorrow. Each of the three civic bodies–JNAC, MNAC and Jugsalai Municipality has one fogging machine which would be pressed into service. We have also sought help from Jusco, which looks after municipal and allied services in the city, which has two fogging machines, ” said an official.
According to him, apart from fogging they have also decided to sprinkle bleaching powder in different localities for checking unhygienic conditions.
He said that the viral fever has taken the shape of an epidemic. ” The viral fever which has struck the city for the last one month can assume an epidemic proportion. We are taking every possible step to check it, ” he said.
Meanwhile, patients of viral fever continue to pour in at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital, Tata Main Hospital and several other hospitals and nursing homes across the city.
Over 100 patients had turned up at the government run MGM Medical College and Hospital by this afternoon while over 150 patients had turned up at the Tata Main Hospital.
Doctors at the Tata Main Hospital said that majority of patients complained of joint pains apart from fever. ” Most of the patients complained of joint pain coupled with fever,” said a doctor at the Tata Main Hospital.
Notably, this year’s outbreak of the viral fever has been the worst . The civil surgeon’s office had sent blood samples of patients suffering from viral fever to New Delhi -based National Communicable Disease Centre ( NCDC) to detect the strains of the virus. The report is expected in the next three days.
