As many as 143 new positive cases of dengue have been reported in the State in the last two days taking the total number of confirmed cases to 948 since January. As many as 106 out of the 948 confirmed cases of dengue are from the city.
State health officials, who admit that the vector-borne disease is on the rise, said prevention was the only solution. The officials called upon people not to panic as the situation was under control and had not reached alarming proportions like last year.
Death of woman
Although the officials said only two deaths were reported so far, unconfirmed reports said three persons had succumbed to the disease in the last two days of which one is from Bangalore. Tilakavathi Ramesh (37) from K.R. Puram is reported to have died of dengue. However, BBMP Chief Health Officer S.B. Nagaraj denied that the woman died of dengue.
State Health Director B.N. Dhanya Kumar said 3,882 people were tested for dengue in Karnataka since January. “As the incessant rains are washing away the breeding spots in stagnant water, it is helpful in keeping malaria at bay. As dengue-causing A edes aegypti mosquitoes breed in fresh water, it is up to the people to avoid storing fresh water for more than three to four days. Also people should take care and protect themselves from mosquito bites,” he said.
Dr. Kumar said all the district health officers (DHO) had been asked to step up surveillance. “They have been asked to send a daily dengue surveillance report and a weekly death audit report to the Health Department, which I am personally monitoring,’’ he said.
Daytime bites
The disease-causing mosquitoes breed in fresh water and bite during daytime. Symptoms include intermittent fever and headache, pain in the joints, rashes over the body and pain behind the eyeball.
