Dengue situation still alarming in Patna, says central team

Eight central teams are in Patna and another four in Bhagalpur, and would continue to extend help in these areas till October 18. While the AIIMS-Patna was operating 11 health camps, the RMIMS was running six health camps and the Central Government Health Scheme three.

The dengue situation in Patna continues to be alarming with a Central team finding 19.25% houses in Patna to have larval index of aedes mosquito, making them susceptible to the infection, even as Union minister of state for health Ashwini Kumar Choubey Tuesday dismissed possibility of dengue epidemic in Bihar.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in Patna Medical College & Hospital in Patna, Oct 15,2019 (Santosh Kumar / HT Photo)

Referred to as house index (HI), which is the percentage of houses infested with larvae and/or pupae, a figure more than 10% sets alarm bells ringing and calls for immediate attention in case of any vector-borne disease, said an expert of the Central team, which is here to assist the state in combatting dengue after almost a fortnight’s waterlogging in some localities of Patna led to a spike in dengue cases this month.

The team had also found 43% Breteau index (BI), which is the number of positive containers per 100 houses inspected for a larva. A BI more than 50% qualifies as epidemic, in epidemiological terminology, said the expert.

Among a few localities vulnerable of dengue were the Kanti Factory Road (HI 40% & BI 54% on October 5), Patliputra Colony (HI 36% & BI 52 on October 7), Rajiv Nagar (HI 29.27% & BI 43.9% on October 8), Bazar Samiti (30.76% & BI 30.76% on October 10), Rajendra Nagar road number 5 (HI 21.15% & BI 30.77% on October 13) and Saidpur (HI 21.57% & BI 33.33%), revealed the finding of the Central team.

“The BI had peaked to 42% on October 12 but has now come down to 32.37% on Tuesday. Every sixth person would be infected if the BI touches 50. However, cases of dengue will come down gradually with the onset of winter,” said Pradeep Das, team leader and director of the Rajendra Memorial Institute of Medical Sciences (RMIMS), Agamkuan, here.

Earlier, speaking to mediapersons, Choubey allayed fears of dengue epidemic in Bihar. He said the Central team was able to help the state check the dengue menace in time.

Even as the minister exuded confidence of succeeding in tackling dengue, two of BJP legislators from Patna — Nitin Navin and Sanjiv Chaurasia — were believed to have been afflicted by dengue. While both the legislators could not be reached for comments, Mantu Singh, an aide of Navin said the MLA had tested positive for dengue even as his platelette count was 1.70 lakh.

Eight teams from the Centre are in Patna and another four in Bhagalpur, and would continue to extend help in these areas till October 18, said Choubey. While the AIIMS-Patna was operating 11 health camps, the RMIMS was running six health camps and the Central Government Health Scheme three.

Meanwhile, the state reported 166 fresh cases of dengue on Tuesday of which 137 were from Patna, taking the overall tally of dengue cases reported in the state so far this year to 1,923, according to the bulletin released by the state health department. One hundred fifty eight cases of chikungunya were also reported in the state so far this year of which 140 were from Patna.