Dengue Menace In Odisha: Health Officials Say No Alarming Rise In Cases So Far

Bhubaneswar: With the onset of monsoon, the number of dengue cases continued to rise across Odisha with state capital Bhubaneswar witnessing a significant spike. The number of cases may rise between July and September.

However, the state government maintains that there has not been any alarming rise in dengue cases so far this year. While the state has increased dengue tests, the overall positivity rate is much less than last year, Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra said on Monday.

A total of 185 dengue cases have been reported from 16 districts of the state after conducting 11,464 tests so far. As many as 96 of the cases were detected from Khurda district and Bhubaneswar.

Around this time last year, 5,981 tests had been conducted and 353 dengue cases  detected. This shows the positivity rate is comparatively less than the last year as the number of tests doubled, but dengue cases got halved, he said.

As most of the dengue cases detected in Khurda district are from Bhubaneswar, the civic authorities have identified Old Town, Salia Sahi, and IRC Village areas as three hotspots in the capital city.

The spike in dengue cases has now prompted the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to intensify sanitation measures.

Apart from stepping up sanitation measures, the civic body has launched a massive dengue awareness drive in different parts of the city. Fogging activities have been intensified. There are some places that have turned hotspots and the civic body is now concentrating on these areas and taking all possible measures to identify and destroy breeding sources, sources said.

Dengue, a vector-borne decease is caused by aedes aegypti mosquito which breeds in clean water accumulated on hard surfaces. Therefore, officials of the Health department as well as BMC have requested the people to clear any puddle or accumulation of water from their surroundings, especially from places like water-coolers and tyres.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) has been issued for all districts as a precautionary measure. Clear instructions have been issued to hospitals and medical colleges to keep beds, medicine and platelets stock ready for dealing with any situation.