RAMANATHAPURAM
Amid a spurt in fever cases in the district, with an average of 90 people getting admitted to government and private hospitals with symptoms of fever every day, four people, including two who came from other places, tested positive for dengue.
Officials said there was nothing alarming as the district stood at the 28th place in the ladder in terms of fever and dengue cases. So far, four people had tested positive for dengue and two of them were discharged after treatment. A 41-year-old woman and a nine-year-old girl were undergoing treatment at the Government District Headquarters Hospital here and their condition was improving fast, doctors said.
A man who came from Chennai to visit his relatives was admitted to the hospital last week with dengue and discharged a couple of days ago after platelet count in his blood increased to 1.90 lakh. Similarly, an 18-year-old girl who came from Kerala was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for dengue and she too was discharged after treatment, the doctors said.
They asked people not to panic if they had fever. Instead, they should visit the nearest government hospital or primary health centre and take prescribed medicines. They should avoid self medication and could take ‘nilavembu kashayam’ (herbal juice) and oral rehydration solutions. Separate wards, including quarantine wards, had been established at government hospitals, they said.
Meanwhile, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao inspected measures initiated by Ramanathapuram Municipality to prevent possible outbreak of dengue and other viral fevers. Pointing out that several parts of the district received good rainfall with the onset of northeast monsoon, he asked local body officials to clear water stagnation and maintain hygiene in their respective jurisdictions.
He said health workers had been asked to step up fogging and eradicate mosquito larvae. The public should keep water containers closed. They should remove worn-out tyres, broken bottles, plastic cups, coconut shells and tender coconut shells, which served as ideal sources for breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, from their premises.
