Dengue, chikungunya threat set to bite again

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 17

The state is facing a threat of outbreak of vector-borne diseases — dengue and chikungunya. Around 2,000 suspected and 127 confirmed cases of dengue have so far been reported in the state. Besides, 750 clinically suspected and 17 confirmed cases of chikungunya have also been reported.

A look at the data of previous years reveal that this year the situation is not much better than the previous year when more than 10,000 dengue cases were reported. Last year, by mid-August around 170 cases of dengue were reported. “Though the number this year is a little less, the real challenge is the next three months,” said Dr Gagandeep Singh, nodal officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

He said though the Health Department was issuing almost 10 times more challans to defaulters providing a conducive atmosphere for vector breeding, dengue prevention needed strong participation of public, which unfortunately was not happening.

Last year, Mohali was the worst affected district in the state with more than 2,000 cases. According to the Health Department, this year too Mohali has been badly hit by dengue.

Chikungunya threat is too looming large over the state. It was last year that the first indigenous case of the disease was reported in Punjab and the number later crossed 2,000.

The biggest worry for health officials is that over the last three years, despite having small population share, Punjab figured among the worst affected states. Last year with over 10,000 cases of vector-borne diseases, Punjab was the worst-affected state after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. In 2015, with more than 14,000 cases, Punjab was second after Delhi.