14 test positive for dengue in Tirthahalli taluk

Of 40 persons being treated for viral fever in Harogolige Grama Panchayat limits in Tirthahalli taluk from past 15 days, the blood samples of 14 patients have been tested positive for dengue.

District Health Officer Rajesh Suragihalli told The Hindu that, of the 14 positive cases, two were admitted to taluk general hospital in Tirthahalli, two are being treated at a hospital in Mangaluru while the remaining 10 patients have received treatment as out-patients at the local primary health centre(PHC) in Harogolige. The health condition of all the 14 patients was stable, he said.

Following the outbreak of dengue, water samples were collected from the sources of drinking water in Harogolige, Melige, Kunimakki, Baalanakudige, Kamakaaru, Sulagodu villages and were sent to laboratory for testing. Many of the houses here are located amidst arecanut plantations. Owing to heavy rain that lashed the region recently, water had collected in low-lying areas in the arecanut plantations. In Melige, Tumbekodige villages, the larvae of

aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the virus that causes dengue fever was found in the stagnant water in arecanut plantations. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) have been directed to apply temephos, an organophosphate larvicide that controls the growth of larvae, to the stagnant water in these plantations, he said.