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------------------------------------------------- Dengue cases on the rise in State ------------------------------------------------- In a span of around ten days, Goa has recorded more cases of dengue fever than in the eleven years from 1990 to 2001, including its first ever death.
With one more case of dengue detected on Saturday, the number of dengue cases in the State has risen to seven. According to an health officer, majority of the cases are of the "classical dengue" type - where the patient displays symptoms similar to that of influenza and which pass off with a supporting medicine like an antipyretic.
The danger arises when this develops into "haemorrhagic dengue", where there is internal haemorraging, and the body goes into shock. In this case immediate hospitalisation is required, as, if this is neglected, the patient will die.
The eight year old child who expired is said to be a victim of the latter case. While officials do not deny that it is a case of dengue, the death certificate has not confirmed that death was caused by dengue, but rather only suggests dengue fever.
However this doctor insists that the seven cases detected are not related, and so the situation is not a cause for concern. Although three are from Ponda taluka, they are from areas a considerable distance from one another. "There is no local transmission, which would have been a cause for concern", he adds.
Surprisingly, out of these seven, six are children. Although there is no medical reason why adults should not be equally affected, this doctor explains this predominance among children through the fact that the symptoms of dengue being similar to those of flu, an adult would be likely to take some medication and continue work. But a child would be more likely to be referred to a medical practitioner.
Officials of the Directorate of Health Services deny that there is cause for panic. "In India, dengue fever is very common and as widespread as malaria. There may be many cases in Goa", informs this official.
Dengue was seen in Goa in 2001 when one case was reported. In fact from the year 1990 to 2001, totally five cases of classical dengue have been reported, with no deaths.
The latest surge is explained by officials through increased testing and subsequent detection. According to them, earlier there was no kit to detect dengue fever in Goa, and samples used to be sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune. These were not samples of suspected dengue cases, but should the symptoms not fit into any other disease then the test for dengue was carried out.In fact, the Goa Medical College has purchased the dengue kit only this year, officials disclosed.
According to a doctor at the Directorate of Health Services, the rising number of cases could be a reflection of the number of cases across the border. "Medical practitioners in places like Belgaum have informed me that there is an increase in the number of dengue cases", he said.
Unfortunately, testing of labourers for dengue along with malaria is not feasible, as this is an expensive affair, working out to about Rs 180-200 per person, says this doctor. As this is not an emergency situation, this kind of expenditure is not warranted, he adds.
While insisting that the situation is not alarming, DHS officials have nevertheless taken steps to keep the situation under control by carrying out house to house screening of fever cases where ever there is a primary health centre.
In urban areas, the DHS claims that the vector control measures are not entirely the domain of that department, rather it says that it is the responsibility of the public and primarily that of the Municipality.
The control measures taken for the anopheles mosquito spreading malaria are the same for the aedes aegypti mosquito spreading dengue fever. Interestingly, while the anopheles Mosquito bites only in the evenings and at night, the aedes mosquito bites during the day. -------------------------------- HERALD 23/9/03 page 1 --------------------------------- ======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
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