Fever cases have begun to swamp wards in most hospitals in the city, with a significant number of patients requiring prolonged treatment and rest.
Along with intermittent rain, dengue cases have been showing a steep increase in the district in the past few days. Twenty-four confirmed cases were reported on Friday. On Thursday, 23 cases of dengue were confirmed, while on the day before, the figure was 16. The actual number of cases could be much more as many patients are getting treated in the private sector hospitals, which may not figure on the official list.
Since January this year, the district has reported nearly 850 cases of dengue and there have been six suspected dengue deaths. If till last year, the city Corporation bore the brunt of the dengue caseload, this time many cases are being reported from the periphery. Of the 24 dengue cases reported on Friday, only six were from Corporation wards. On Thursday too, only four out of 23 cases in the district were from the Corporation wards
While a lot of fever control activities are happening in the designated ‘hotspots’ for dengue in the district, in other places, vector control activities are not efficient, health officials admitted. Unless vector control activities are taken up in a sustained manner in and around all homes, dengue cases will continue to rise.
“Every household should take up regular vector control activities to bring down the mosquito population in an area. We have been touring many parts of the district and wherever dengue cases were reported, we found that there were plenty of indoor vector breeding sources – the water collection tray beneath flowerpots and one beneath refrigerators were the primary sources,” a senior health official said.
He also appealed to the public to report dengue cases or an increase in fever cases in any locality to the Health Department’s helpline, 1056, so that control activities can be launched in the area immediately.
