The State government is planning to set up swine flu testing laboratories in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in a month. The decision came in the wake of rampant spread of the diseases, especially dengue, malaraia and a few swine flu cases as well.
During a teleconference with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu here on Wednesday, the officials informed that swine flu cases were being reported in the State mostly owing to the large scale prevalence of the disease in the neighbouring States. Swine flu cases were reported owing to the general movement of people into the State from the neighbouring States.
In the absence of laboratories equipped with swine flu testing facilities, samples of nasal and throat swabs are now being sent to the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Hyderabad. The proposed laboratories will have advanced equipment with which quick diagnosis can be made through viral antigen identification and serological and polymerase chain reaction tests.
Dr. G. Krishna Murthy, Director (R&D) of NTR University of Health Sciences and former HoD of Microbiology at Guntur Medical College (GMC), said various types of molecular assaying could be done in a dedicated lab in less time and the results would be more definitive enabling the doctors to choose an appropriate therapeutic means.
Health department officials admitted that there was rise in the number of cases of communicable diseases this season, but claimed that no malaria and dengue deaths were reported from any district till date.
Expressing displeasure on the rise in malaria, dengue and swine-flu cases, Mr. Naidu asked the officials to take preventive and curative measures to control the spread of diseases. The officials explained that all necessary measures were being taken to control the spread of fevers, claiming that central epidemiological team was already monitoring the situation and the health department was taking up fogging activities and ensuring sufficient supply of medicines at village, mandal and municipal level health centres.
