There is no reason to get panicky about outbreak of dengue or any other vector borne diseases in the district. However, do not neglect symptoms and get timely treatment from qualified medical professionals, was the message from the district public health department, in a bid to counter rumours about dengue cases surfacing here in the past three days.
Deputy Director of Public Health Services Dr Somasundaram said people need not get anxious over symptoms as the district administration was fully geared to meet any eventuality. The health staff have been engaged in various plans to combat viral fevers.
Since mosquito breeding is more in densely populated areas, the urban areas had been divided into smaller zones. Anti-larval work and fogging were being carried out to destroy mosquito eggs and its trans-ovarian transmission activities, he added.
Based on the studies carried out by the District Health Department and the entomology unit during pre and post-monsoon period, it had come to light that while Ambur and Vellore had higher Breteau index (the number of positive containers of Aedes aegypti larvae per 100 premises inspected) of over 10, the rest of the municipalities scored less than 10.
The health department had launched public awareness campaigns on Thursday and Friday in Ambur and Vellore, respectively, both led by District Collector P Shankar. Around 50,000 pamphlets and stickers had been distributed to the public in both the areas, dispelling fears and seeking public cooperation to combat mosquito breeding.
The department had also been monitoring various types of viral fevers reported in hospitals across the district. If the number of new cases per day exceeded 15 per cent of the total reported cases, smear tests were being carried out to first rule out malaria and then the other viral fevers, since other viral fevers such as dengue, flu, chikungunya, and typhoid were self-limiting. Somasundaram said many cases had gone unnoticed and even normal symptomatic viral cases had been blown out of proportion. Dengue for example, could be confirmed only through ELISA test (IgG and IgM) and was linked to epidemiological surveillance data.
When asked about the three persons admitted to the Vellore GH on Thursday night, Somasundaram said two of them were diagnosed as suffering from viral fever and one person was diagnosed with typhoid and not dengue. They were being treated well, he added.
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