Jamshedpur Hit with Dengue Threat as Fresh Cases are Piling Up

The sting of dengue virus is spreading across the steel city of Jamshedpur. The Avenue Mail reported that 25 fresh cases have been registered from across the city. Dengue fever is a monsoon disease which typically occurs in tropical and sub-tropical climate. Dubbed “break bone fever”, dengue is one of the world’s leading mosquito-borne illnesses and infects as many as 100 million people annually.

Dengue is transmitted mainly by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which thrives in densely populated tropical climates and breed in stagnant pools of water. The mosquitoes pick up the virus from infected humans – even asymptomatic ones – and pass it along to other people through bites.

The Avenue Mail further quoted a health official, who said, “The patients are admitted at various hospitals including Tata Main Hospital, Tata Motors Hospital, Bramhananda Narayana Superspecialist Hospital, Kantilal Gandhi Memorial Hospital, MGM Medical College and Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Tinplate Hospital. Significantly, these patients have turned up from almost all the localities including Bistupur, Sakchi, Mango, Jugsalai, Kadma, Sonari, Sitaramdera, Telco and Golmuri.”

The health official further said that as the fresh cases have come from all the localities of the city, they would continue the dengue action plan afresh in all the areas of the city. He pointed out the drive against dengue will continue until they get no more case of it. The resurfacing of dengue positive cases has prompted the East Singhbhum district health department to direct the district for a change in strategy adopting to counter vector (Aedes Aegypti) menace.

“As per latest directive of the district civil surgeon we have asked our men to carry out fogging exercise in the affected areas of Jugsalai and Mango with focus on identifying and destroying unused containers storing waters in houses and localities and educating locals about steps to prevent breeding of dengue vectors,” said the official.

This exercise would be held simultaneously with routine methods of spraying larvicidal in the area.

“We need to understand that mosquitoes that carry the virus of dengue do not come from outside, rather they generate from the household things like flower-pots, coolers water, rejected tyre kept on the roof top or in the corner of the garden. So we must ensure that there is no such place where water is stagnant for some time,” the health official noted.

He said that the administration will launch a special drive to create awareness on dengue and the Health Department will monitor the onset of the disease.

According to experts the unattended filth and garbage spread all over are some of the major reasons that have led to the breeding of mosquitoes. Bite of the aedes aegypti mosquito causes dengue fever. The aedes breeds not in the dirty water, rather in fresh stagnant water like in the old tyres, flower pots and abandoned utensils.