Ghaziabad: 147 dengue cases in first nine days of October, tally now 459

The positivity rate of dengue is also on the higher side. According to official records, till October 9, the district conducted 1,572 tests for dengue, of which 459 returned positive. The positivity rate stands at 29.19%

Dengue cases are increasing at a rapid rate in the district with 147 such cases coming to the fore in just the first nine days of October, taking the tally to 459till Saturday evening. Officials of the district health department said they are conducting extensive drives of fogging and eliminating mosquito breeding spots, both in urban and rural areas, to curb the spread of dengue.

Patients taking treatment at the dengue ward in the Combined District Hospital at Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad on Saturday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to officials, as many as 20 dengue cases were reported on Saturday. The first dengue case reported this year was on September 1 and the tally of the cases arising from the vector borne disease stood at 312 till September 30, indicating an average of 10.4 cases per day. With 147 more cases till October 9, the incidence of dengue has increased to 15.87 cases per day. Of the 459 patients, 320 of them required admission in hospitals, taking the rate of hospitalisation to 69.71%.

According to officials, dengue cases are still on the rise and increasing at a faster rate.

“Our teams are regularly carrying out fogging and anti-larvae activities; each and every case is being mapped for containment exercise in the locality. We have also deployed four ambulances in rural areas to attend to patients in need. We are expecting the dengue cases to decline after October 15, which has been the trend over past years,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer.

The positivity rate of dengue is also on the higher side. According to official records, till October 9, the district conducted 1,572 tests for dengue, of which 459 returned positive. The positivity rate stands at 29.19%.

So far, the district has reported 16 cases of malaria of the 27,102 tests it has conducted for the disease. The sample positivity rate of is about 0.05%.

According to officials, areas like Govindpuram, Harsaon, Vijay Nagar, Raj Nagar Extension, Shastri Nagar, Nyaya Khand 1 and 2 in Indirapuram, Gyan Khand and Ahimsa Khand 1 in Indirapuram and Prahlad Garhi have high incidence of dengue cases, and likely accounts for 250 of the total cases.

Experts said dengue cases have not seen any decline so far. “It is expected that the dengue cases, like in previous years, will subside only after Deepawali. The figures of the district health department could be less as the hospitals are receiving many dengue patients,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, former president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad).

Officials from the health department said chances of under reporting of dengue cases are less. “Our teams call up hospitals and nursing homes on a daily basis to gather information about new admissions. Moreover, they are also required to send a sample of each patient for a dengue confirmatory test in our laboratory. It is only after confirmation that cases are declared positive. Hence, the chances of under reporting are negligible,” said Dr Gupta.

Apart from dengue and malaria, cases of scrub typhus have also been reported in the district. However, the tally of scrub typhus has stood at 39 since September 30.