E-Paper
Drive begins in Dhanbad as dengue cases pile up
A health department team, led by district malaria consultant Ramesh Singh, visited Mallah Patti locality of Lodna area in Jharia on Monday and carried out water container surveys in different households to detect the larvae of Aedes aegypti, which causes dengue. Blood samples have also been collected from over 30 suspected dengue and malaria cases for further tests, officials said.
As the number of suspected dengue cases is increasing in Dhanbad, the district health department has launched an intensive survey and awareness drive to check the further spread of the disease, officials said on Monday.
A health department team, led by district malaria consultant Ramesh Singh, visited Mallah Patti locality of Lodna area in Jharia on Monday and carried out water container surveys in different households to detect the larvae of Aedes aegypti, which causes dengue. Blood samples have also been collected from over 30 suspected dengue and malaria cases for further tests, officials said.
Meanwhile, similar surveys are being carried out in other blocks of the district, including Nirsa, Tundi, Purbi Tundi, and Baliapur block, where over 50 suspected cases of dengue have been reported, they added.
Notably, 19 suspected cases have been admitted to the district-level special isolation ward for dengue at Sahid Nirmal Mahto Memorial Medical College and Hospital (SNMMCH) since September 8, which were detected during the survey carried out last week.
All this, as the initial-level test of all the suspected persons carried out through the NS1 rapid antigen kit during the ground-level survey, indicated dengue.
Speaking to The Hindustan Times on Monday, Ramesh Singh, district malaria consultant, said, “The ELISA test report of the 19 suspected cases admitted at SNMMCH is likely to arrive late in the evening or tomorrow morning. However, we are taking nothing for granted, and intensive survey work is being carried out in all such areas where suspected cases of dengue have been reported.”
Chandrabhanu Pratapam, the Dhanbad civil surgeon, said, “No confirmed dengue cases have been reported in the district so far. However, the ELISA reports of some suspected dengue cases are awaited.”
Awadesh Kumar, a health worker part of the department team that surveyed Jharia on Monday, said, “During the container survey carried out in the Lodna area today, we found some larvae of Aedes aegypti, but the symptoms observed among the affected persons indicated that the majority of them are related to malaria.” He added that they are collecting blood samples from all the suspected cases for further confirmation through tests.
“We are conducting an awareness drive during the survey, informing people that water should not be allowed to stagnate for long periods at a place, as larvae of the Aedes aegypti grow in stagnant water,” said Kumar, adding that they have destroyed the larvae found during the survey.
