TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The state has witnessed an inexplicable rise in dengue cases even as cases of other vector-borne diseases have declined as compared to last year.
According to Directorate of Health Services data, while the cases of malaria have come down by more than 200 when compared to the same period last year, cases of dengue have more than quadrupled.
Between January and October this year, the state has recorded 1,285 malaria cases while last year’s tally was 1435. However in the case of dengue, while last year recorded 39 cases of dengue this year the tally has touched 125 with 36 cases being detected in the month of October itself.
The state also reported one death, that of a seven-year-old girl due to dengue this year.
Speaking to Herald, health officials said the causes of this seemingly bizarre trend are still being investigated.
“Normally dengue mosquitoes bite several people in one area, unlike anopheles which generally tend to bite one person before laying eggs. But in these cases, dengue has affected only one person while neighbours and family members are not affected,” Dr Sachin Govekar, director of the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme said.
The state also witnessed around 175 cases of malaria during October.
Health officials say that most often people don’t know that these mosquitoes breed even in bathrooms and kitchens where water kept in buckets is clean and still.
“Breeding takes place everywhere and in these cases the dengue mosquito is a day-biting- mosquito and so people tend to take precautions only at night, which is part of the problem,” he said.
Dengue is caused by a virus that has no fixed cure, except giving paracetamol and other cases to bring down the fever and help the body fight the disease.
“It is important that a person detected with dengue is immediately brought to the hospital and given treatment. A severe attack of dengue is usually caused when the person suffers a second attack in quick succession and the first one was mild to the point of not being noticed. In the case of the seven-year-old girl, she was brought to the hospital in a very advanced stage of the disease and died within two days of being admitted,” he said.
The Directorate of Health Services conducts a detailed investigation of each case of a vector-borne disease to ascertain the causes and to improve better the situation in the future.
