746 dengue cases, three deaths reported in state: Director
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, September 26 2023: As the state continues to grapple with the impact of ongoing ethnic crisis, another pressing issue in the form of spreading Dengue, also known as yellow fever, is creating serious public health concerns with government authority reporting as many as 746 confirmed cases and three deaths from January 1 till September 22.Addressing a press meet in this regard at the directorate of health services here on Tuesday, health services director Dr Kh Sasheekumar said that prevalence rate of Dengue cases, which is caused by Aedes aegypti mosquito breed, is increasing in the state in the last four to five years.

In 2018, the state recorded around 100 confirmed cases and the number rose to around 500 in 2022.This year, the number has gone up to 746 till September 22 and there are also 584 suspected cases.

So far, three deaths, which were caused likely by the disease has also been reported this year.

Considering the rising number of cases, the coming years are likely to report more cases as well as more casualties, he cautioned.

Informing that there are five variants of Dengue virus with variant-5 found very rarely, the director conveyed that the common variants reported are variants 1 to 4.As for the state, maximum of the cases is caused by variant 2 and 4, which is more severe as compared to variant 1 and 3.Variant 2 is the most severe strain and along with 4 are common in Imphal East and West, where maximum number of cases have been detected while only one variant has been detected in the hill districts.

People with health conditions like blood and kidney diseases normally get improvement quickly.

A second infection with the same strain often shows mild symptoms.

However, in case of first infection by variant 2, there is possibility of severe cases if the second infection is from variant 4.Infection by more than one strain is often associated with complications and higher death rate.

Keeping in view of the high rate of positive cases, there are possibilities of rising cases and deaths in the coming years.

In such situation, public cooperation is a must in order to control the epidemic and prevent infection, he said.

Dr Sasheekumar further said that prevalence and mortality rate of Dengue is also rising globally.

The primary reason is attributed to climate change, global warming, increasing population, dense houses and poorly planned urbanisation among others.

The reasons are same with the state too, he said.

The department is taking up every possible measure to control the situation.

As part of the source deduction measure, possible breeding sites of mosquitoes have been removed from over 300 houses and 2000 spots outside the houses, fogging has been conducted in around 17 localities, and over 23,000 mosquito nets have been medicated.

Free testing facilities are provided at RIMS, JNIMS, district hospitals and offices of CMOs.

Blood units are also provided free of cost at government hospitals, he informed.

However, the efforts of the department alone is not enough to control the situation but entails active community participation.

Local clubs, NGOs and SHGs need to come up with voluntary source deduction programmes in their respective localities.

Inter-departmental cooperation is also an important area, which is the need of the hour, he said and also stressed the need for coordinated efforts with NSS teams in colleges as well as role of media in disseminating information to the public.

As per official report, 497 confirmed and 33 suspected cases are reported in Imphal West district; 126 confirmed and 8 suspected cases in Imphal East; 10 confirmed and 364 suspected cases in Tengnoupal; and 2 confirmed and 157 suspected cases in Senapati district.

The report further records 27 confirmed cases in Bishnupur, 4 in Chandel, 5 in Churachandpur, 8 in Kangpokpi, 4 in Noney, 54 in Thoubal, 7 in Kakching, and 1 each in Ukhrul and Kamjong districts; The three deaths, which were suspected to be caused by Dengue are one each from Tengnoupal, Senapati and Imphal West districts.

The 584 suspected cases are found positive in Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) which could show symptoms within 15-20 minutes but are often inaccurate.

As of now, only those cases who are found positive in ELISA tests are counted as confirmed cases.

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