Dengue cases increase in Kurukshetra, Health Dept launches door-to-door survey

A gradual increase in the number of dengue cases in the district has forced the Health Department to launch a special drive in urban areas to check the breeding of mosquitoes.

Besides waterlogging due to untimely rainfall, the health authorities blame people for the rise in the cases saying that they do not pay attention to the appeals of the department to take precautions.

According to data, with four fresh cases reported on Thursday, the number of cases have jumped to 208 in the district. Of the total cases, 20 patients are admitted at hospital, 12 are getting treatment in OPDs and 176 have recovered. No death has been reported due to dengue. Over 2,150 samples were collected for dengue testing. Teams of the Health Department have been checking houses for dengue larvae. Larvae was found in 1,864 houses and the Health Department served 1,043 notices.

About 60 to 70 per cent of the total cases have been reported from urban areas of Thanesar only.

Recently, Thanesar MLA Ashok Arora expressed concerns over rising dengue cases. He also claimed that the government was hiding the real data. Ashok Arora said, “The number of dengue cases is on the rise and people are dying. Instead of hiding the actual figures, the government should focus on controlling the spread of the disease. I have raised the matter with the officials concerned and some concrete steps are required to deal with this issue as this is the same story every year.”

Dr Pradeep Kumar, Deputy Civil Surgeon, said, “Necessary steps are being taken to check the breeding of mosquitoes and the Health Department is creating awareness among people so that they don’t allow water to stagnate in their surroundings. Anti-larval spray is being done and fogging has also intensified. It has been observed that people are not paying attention to the appeals being made, and this was one of the prime reasons that the dengue cases are increasing. A special campaign has been launched in the urban areas to control the spread.”

“Dengue spreads through the bite of an infected mosquito. People should use nets and must keep the patient in net. A three-day special campaign to conduct a door-to-door survey has been launched in the urban areas from Thursday. The number of cases is decreasing gradually and we are hopeful that the situation will improve further in the coming days”, he said.

“All the confirmed cases are being reported. Private labs are doing rapid tests and confirming dengue after just seeing the platelet count. As per the guidelines, only Elisa test is reliable for confirmation of dengue. Instead of going for rapid tests, Elisa test should be conducted for confirmed report and take treatment accordingly. People should also avoid self-medication and get the test conducted in case of any doubt. There are two sample collection centres (LNJP Hospital and Polyclinic, Sector 4) and a testing centre at the LNJP Hospital,” said the Deputy Civil Surgeon.