The Hindu : Fever epidemic yet to be controlled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Fever epidemic yet to be controlled

By M. Dinesh Varma

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM July 13. The sweep of dengue fever continues unabated due a combination of ineffective vector control measures and misplaced reliance on so-called preventive drugs, according to the findings of a recent survey undertaken by the Indian Medical Association(IMA) in the city.

The survey, which covered 1,040 high school students of a Government school and a `street sample' of 528 people, found that 46.9 per cent of children and 40.9 per cent of adults were affected by fever during the past two months. The results of the study were revealed by the IMA office-bearers today.

As many as 44.7 per cent of the surveyed population had been infected by fever in the past two months. The prevalence of fever in children (17.3 per cent) and adults (16.47 per cent) during the last one week was higher than the average of 5.58 per cent of the past two months and this indicated that the epidemic was far from being under control.

The infection control study was conducted by an expert committee comprising Sreejith Kumar, T. Suresh Kumar, V. C. Velayudhan Pillai, Alex Franklin, Anantha Narayanan and Joseph.

The IMA expressed doubts over the efficacy of the medicines being promoted as a preventive against dengue infection. According to the association, children and adults who were administered these medicines developed fever while those who did not take them, had not.

What was more serious was that 21.87 per cent of adults and 9.31 per cent of children who were administered these so-called preventive drugs also developed side-effects ranging from body ache and giddiness to diarrhoea and vomiting.

According to the IMA, while standard medical literature recommended controlling the aedes mosquito species, the survey established that the community at large was exposed to the dengue threat as vector control and environmental hygiene improvement measures covered barely 21 per cent of the area.

The IMA called for urgent vector control measures to prevent re-infection as well as to pre-empt fresh infections. Periodic vector surveys to limit the vector density, regular inter- epidemic surveillance and inter-departmental coordination were also recommended.

The IMA has appealed to the administration to evolve policies for mass health education. It urged scientific bodies to disseminate scientific information on the control of dengue fevers and residents' associations to coordinate local meetings.

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Fever epidemic yet to be controlled