Ballari and Vijayanagara districts have been seeing a surge in Dengue and other infectious diseases, since the rains have begun, causing the water to collect unnecessarily.
Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle, and joint pain, and a characteristic skin rash similar to measles. There are four types of dengue strains, and type II and IV are considered to be more severe and normally require hospitalisation.
Like every year, even this time, the district has been seeing an increased number of infectious diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, and Viral Fever. In July this year, more than 300 people were diagnosed with viral fever, diarrhoea, Nausea was found. When the blood samples of them were tested, 1 dengue case was confirmed, sources from the office of the District Epidemiology Controller said.
From January to date, 1,112 people’s blood samples have been tested. Sources from the district health officer’s office said that 87 dengue cases were detected. Surprisingly, this same statistic is being given for a long time.
Officials have failed at providing accurate statistics on cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria. Nor the records relevant to this are published or advertised. Whenever asked, the officials have memorized one answer – “This year the number of cases is lower than last year”.
There are a lot of epidemic cases in the district. There are plenty of private hospitals and there is a separate consultancy for this. On an average, 2,500 people are being tested every month, and at least 100 cases of dengue, bacterial pneumonia, and viral fever are detected every month, says Dr Balakrishnan, president of the Bellary unit of the Indian Medical Association. Ravishankar S.
“Two weeks ago, a number of children were admitted to VIMS, suffering from dengue. Due to the problem of bed availability, two children were sleeping on each bed. Currently, because of the availability of 160 beds for the treatment of viral fever at the New Dental College, the problem has seemed to diminish. This new dental college facility is available for treatment from Friday (Sept. 3)”, said the Director of VIMS, GangadharaGowda.
