Chikungunya cases reach 85 in district

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 12

Forty more patients have tested positive for chikungunya in the district. The total number of patients of the disease has now reached to 85. While until yesterday as many as 45 had tested positive for chikungunya, the number is now nearing 100.

However, due to no dengue test done today the total number of patients remains at 341 in the district (two patients reported from Kapurthala), with dengue stats too, steadily climbing.

Integrated Disease SurveillanceProgramme(IDSP) incharge Dr Surinder kumar said all efforts were being made to reach out to patients in all affected areas of Jalandhar. While dengue spurt had been reported in the Nandanpur village and Avatar Nagar so far in Jalandhar, the residents of Kai Pind have also reported the disease.

Although officials of the Health Department maintain unless some patient is reported positive though a confirmatory tests they can’t be deemed dengue or chikungunya patients.

Among dengue cases so far reported from Jalandhar, as many as 292 are from urban and 47 from rural areas.

From private hospitals 263 and from government hospitals 490 suspected dengue cases have been tested so far.

Of the total 341 cases tested positive in the district, almost all had been tested for MC Aliza tests at the civil hospital while NSI antigen tests have also been conducted in other labs and the facility of platelet transfusion is also available at private labs.

Meanwhile seeing the massive number of patients yet to be tested, especially in sensitive areas, the demand for proper testing and surveillance of Dengue patients has time and again been raised with the health department.

Meanwhile, fogging and cleaning requests have been made to the Municipal Corporation a number of times and some area residents have also held protests on the issue.