With one more dengue death reported on Thursday night, Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil has set up a command centre headed by him to oversee data collection, vector control, and awareness activities on dengue in the city.
Twelve-year-old class 7 student Shradha Shetty was admitted to a private hospital in Mangaluru two days ago with fever. She was shifted to another hospital where preliminary tests showed her positive for dengue. She died following ‘Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis’ (HLH) reaction, said District Disease Surveillance Officer Navinchandra Kulal.
On Tuesday night, a 10-year-old boy from Kodialbail, who tested positive for dengue, died in a private hospital also following HLH reaction. HLH, which leads to abnormal response of the immune system, has not been seen so far in persons infected with dengue. “We have sent their blood samples to virology laboratory in Manipal to know more about the infection,” Mr. Senthil told reporters on Friday.
The first death was of Veena Nayak, a resident of Kadaba who died in the first week of July. As on Friday, the district has seen 404 positive cases, of which 253 were from Mangaluru. There were 67 cases in Puttur, 39 from Bantwal, 23 from Sullia and 22 cases from Belthangady, Mr. Senthil said.
Command centre
The command centre for dengue control, Mr. Senthil said, has been formed to systematically reduce the source of breeding of Aedes aegypti mosquito that causes dengue. It will also take measures to prevent contact of the mosquito with humans.
The command centre will have four teams. The planning team will compile data received from hospitals and laboratories every day to map the areas where source reduction needs to be done, while 300 members will be given the task of source reduction in houses and public places in the areas mentioned. A group of social activists will review the vector control work every day. Municipal cleaning teams will clear clogged drains.
One team will be dedicated to make people aware about vector control. This team will make public announcements and will use social media to make people aware of use of mosquito repellent and other measures to prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes.
Mr. Senthil expressed hope that this effort would bring down cases of dengue in the city in the next 15 days. Three officers from the Health Department have been deputed to help the district administration on the matter.
