Dengue at danger level in Kamrup (M) district

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, August 23: Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by dengue virus, has affected as many 407 people in Kamrup (M) district alone till August 21, 2016. The capital district is the worst affected one by the vector-borne disease this season.

Among the affected areas in the district, Amrigog is the worst-hit area with as many as dengue 56 cases. It is followed by Kahilipara with 34 cases, Lalganesh with 31 cases, Nine Mile with 13 cases and Udalbakra with 11 cases.  

Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. This may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash. Recovery generally takes less than two to seven days. It is spread by several species of mosquito of the Aedes type, principally A. aegypti.

According to Health Department sources, the occurrence of dengue is more nowadays because of more and more travel by people to and from outside the State. “Now the virus is behaving like an indigenous one of this part of the tion. What’s fraught with is that the mosquito lays eggs in clean and stagnt water. People like to use and stock clean water. What’s even more dangerous is that the eggs of such mosquitos can remain in a dormant state even for a year without being destroyed. When the condition is conducive, the eggs may hatch out even after a year of being laid,” the sources said, and added: “In order to put an end to this risk factor, the people are to be well aware of. The practice of storing clean water has to be done away with. The State Health Department and the GMC have started fogging in areas from where dengue cases have been reported. Since the mosquito can travel as far as 500 metres after injecting the virus to a person, fogging is done within a radius of 500 metres by taking a patient as the centre. So far dengue type 1 is being reported, and there is no occurrence of dengue type II, which is very dangerous. Last year dengue cases were reported between September and December. However, with the early arrival of monsoons, the disease is reported from June this year.”

According to GMCH sources, from June this year 48 dengue patients have been admitted for treatment, and of them while 40 have already been discharged, eight are under treatment. Most of the patients are from Maligaon, Golaghat, Lachit gar, Lalganesh, Noonmati and Sangsari.

Meanwhile, As many as 16 cases of Japanese encephalitis have been reported in Kamrup (M) so far, and six of them lost their lives, the sources added.