Dengue viral disease and Influenza-A (H1N1) have claimed one life each in the district in the last 15 days.
A 17-year-old college student from Nanthoor died following dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) last week. According to District Disease Surveillance Officer Dr. Rajesh, the girl was admitted in Kankanady with fever on June 4. She died of DHF on June 17.
A 32-year-old man from Surathkal, who was undergoing dialysis, died of Influenza-A (H1N1) on June 12. Dr. Rajesh said this patient had fever in May and was treated for a few days in Surathkal. He was referred to a private hospital in Balmatta on June 8 where he died four days later.
Dr. Rajesh said that so far there have been 90 cases of dengue in Dakshina Kannada since January. Nearly 14 persons had dengue in the last few days. “With intermittent rains, there might be an increase in the number of cases,” Dr. Rajesh said.
With regard to Influenza-A, nasal/throat swabs of eight-suspected persons were tested. Of the eight, four were from Mangalore and one each from Sullia, Puttur, Belthangady, and Bantwal. “None had Influenza A,” Dr. Rajesh said.
According to Dr. Rajesh, there were 290 cases of dengue last year. The treatment for dengue, Dr. Rajesh said, was symptomatic. “When a doctor notices viral fever in this endemic region, he has to first rule out chances of fever resulting from dengue and malaria,” he said. Rapid diagnostic tests using NSI Antigen kits are used to detect dengue. In select cases, confirmation of dengue infection was done using IgM Elisa Test Kits. These kits were being provided by the National Institute of Virology, Pune, he said.
