The arrival of monsoon rains are welcomed by all as they end the stifling heat of summer, but doctors and paramedics of Medical and Health Department are put on tenterhooks.
In the past couple of days the number of fever cases has gone up steeply both in the urban and rural areas of Krishna District. The rains very effectively contaminate the drinking water resources and also provide mosquitoes places to breed, the doctors point out.
The number of fever cases has been gradually increasing for the past two weeks in Vijayawada and in some mandals of Krishna district. The ESI hospital Special Civil Surgeon (General Medicine) T.V. Narayana Rao, who has been studying fevers in the city, told The Hindu that there was an increase in the number of viral fevers in the past two weeks.
Patients were having body pains, headache and in some cases there was a fall in blood platelet and White Blood Cell (WBC) counts. The fever was subsiding in three to four days “as abruptly as they were occurring”. The patients were getting better with symptomatic treatment and the maintenance of fluid balance orally. But the good news is that the viral fevers were not as “explosive” as they were last year till now, Dr. Narayana Rao said.
Krishna DM & HO J. Sarasajakshi said that several viral fever cases were reported in the upland mandals of Musunur and Nuzvid. She said District Health Department personnel were conducting a door-to-door campaign in Gokulampadu, Surepalli, Gopavaram, Gudipadu, Chintalavalli village of Musunuru Mandal and Ramanakkapet, Chekkapalli and surrounding villages in Nuzvid mandal.
While there were about a 100 fever cases in these villages eight new cases were reported on Saturday. A four-member epidemic team was being sent to these mandals for better management of the fevers and preventing further spread of fevers. Dr. Sarasajakshi said the fevers were all viral, no cases of dengue or malaria have been reported till now.
