Open House: What steps should be taken to check the spread of dengue fever?

Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease endemic to tropical regions, has emerged as an epidemic threat in the district. The situation has become so dire that all hospital beds are occupied by chikungunya patients. The crisis primarily stems from the unpreparedness of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation. The neglect of essential sewerage maintenance before the rainy season has exacerbated the issue. During rainfall, stagnant water accumulates on roads for extended periods, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes and wreaking havoc on the lives of residents. The consequences of this negligence have been severe, with the people of Amritsar bearing a heavy burden due to the Municipal Corporation’s lethargy in cleaning major parts of the city’s sewerage systems. Localities like Putlighar, Chheharta, Islamabad, 22-number Phatak, Haripura, Ram Nagar Colony, Inderpuri, Kot Khalsa, and many more are grappling with the consequences, including an outbreak of dengue fever. It is now imperative to take immediate action, deploying super sucker machines to clear clogged sewerage lines and conducting extensive fogging in affected areas on an urgent basis. Public awareness campaigns should motivate residents to maintain cleanliness in their surroundings. The municipal corporation must significantly increase its workforce and deploy additional machinery for city-wide cleaning operations. Regular garbage collection should become a daily routine, as in some areas, it currently occurs only twice a week. Scheduled sewerage line cleaning is essential to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds. Sincere and collective efforts from both residents and the corporation are essential to achieve the challenging task of maintaining cleanliness in the holy city of Amritsar. While the endeavour is demanding, it is attainable through the combined commitment of all stakeholders.

Sandeep Vasal

QUESTION

Piles of garbage are becoming a permanent fixture of urban smart cities. With cities claim to have gone smart, do you think governments should also seek smart and sustainable solutions for this perennial problem?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to [email protected] by Thursday (Sept 14).

Observe every Friday as ‘dry day’

Currently, there is no specific treatment or antiviral therapy available for dengue virus infection and supportive care with vigilant monitoring is the principle course of treatment. The primary preventive measure to reduce dengue infection is the control of misquote population. One most recommended environmental management strategy is to eliminate unnecessary container habitats that collect water. Health officials conducting an early awareness campaign about symptoms of dengue and malaria needs to be undertaken regularly and in advance to caution and control the dreaded diseases. Dengue cases in our cities of Punjab have been the result of sheer negligence of health and civic authorities in the past, our health officials should stress upon the checking of dengue larvae in their possible breeding places like tyre shops and air coolers. There have to be regular mosquitoes control measures and sprays carried out, much before the onslaught of dengue. There should be weekly ‘dry day’, say on every Friday, campaign to make the people aware of the measures like coolers cleaning, to curb the spread of dreaded dengue, these precautions will surely yield good results.The civic bodies as well as urban denizens, both should share the blame of littering and sorry state of our streets and roads. At the same time the residents of our cities should not abjure their own duty and responsibility of not littering their surroundings,which leads to mosquito breeding.Timely measures and precautions can make all the difference, as the saying goes ‘a stitch in time saves nine’,

LJ Singh (Retd) Chief Engineer

Conduct fogging drives in city

In order to check the spread of life-threatening ailment of dengue, the foremost step the administration should take to conduct fogging drives in the city. Secondly, awareness must be created among residents to use strong mosquito killer sprays like Mortein in all rooms of their homes. Last, but not the least, remove stagnant water from your surroundings.

Sanjay Chawla

Patients should seek medical advice

Rainwater accumulation on various hard surfaces and stagnant water encourages aedes aegpti mosquitoes to breed. We should keep our surroundings clean whether it is school, home, office and road. Poor sanitation is the main factor promoting the presence of mosquitoes in a location. Mosquito larvae live in standing water, the larvae require only minimal amounts of water. There is no vaccine or specific medication for dengue fever. Patients should seek medical advice, rest and drink plenty of fluids.

Subhkarman kaur

Don’t let water stagnate

Dengue fever is caused by any one of four types of dengue viruses. You can’t get dengue fever from being around an infected person. Instead, dengue fever is spread through mosquito bites.

Dengue viruses are spread to people through the bite of an infected aedes species mosquito. These mosquitoes also spread zika, chikungunya, and other viruses. Don’t let clean water collect anywhere in your house, not even your bathroom.

Rajbir kaur

Wear protective clothes

Dengue can be a dangerous disease that’s caused by infected mosquitoes, specifically the Aedes aegypti. Here are tips to enhance your protection against dengue.

Wear protective clothing like long sleeves and pants inside and outside the house most especially if you know that there is a dengue outbreak in your area. The state government should conduct fogging drives near houses, schools, colleges and educational institutes.

Sucha Singh Sagar

Prevention is better than cure

Tropical and subtropical areas are known habitat for a particular type of mosquito which is a creator of the dreaded viral disease called dengue and the similar type of mosquito is also spreading two most dread diseases called zika and chikungunia. The noticeable increase in the number of patients reporting with the symptoms of dengue fever daily to the hospitals is a cause of concern for every resident of the locality / area where this disease is spreading fast. It is a known fact that the disease is spread through mosquito with symptoms of high fever, body and joint pains. It is well said that prevention is better than cure. To prevent the spreading of these viral diseases, some steps are required to be taken by individuals and some steps are required to be taken by the medical authorities of the district concerned. As an individual, one must not allow water to stagnant anywhere in and around your house. During the rainy season, water gets accumulated in empty pots, tyres, etc. Frequently change the water in the water coolers. Due to humidity if water is not required in the cooler then it must not be filled. One must have noticed that medical teams are visiting from time to time to sensitise people on this issue, please follow their advice. Use mosquito repellent, wear full sleeves protective clothing. Sleep under the mosquito net. Keep all your doors and windows closed all the time so that there is no possibility of entering mosquitoes in your home. The steps taken by medical authorities must include, sensitise people about the viral disease through media, and medical teams. The most conventional method to check the spread of this disease is the fogging in the locality. In the last but not the least take medicine prescribed by an authorised medical consultant.

Kamal Nayan Sharma

Penalise violators

of rules

Dengue fever is a seasonal viral disease that spreads through mosquito bites. It’s a matter of concern that this disease has restarted extending its tentacles in Jalandhar with seven confirmed cases in the city and one in Nakodar, despite surveying homes and other places by the health teams to prevent the breeding of larvae. To control the spread of the disease, the government authorities should carry out regular intensive surveillance campaigns including fogging in vulnerable areas, launching a public complaint app, addressing complaints regarding mosquito breeding on a priority basis, raising awareness, and implementing targeted initiatives in hotspots, and other preventive measures until the disease fades away. Special teams should visit every household and instruct all property holders to cleanse their vacant plots to keep the surroundings free from wild weeds and water pits. The public should also become responsible and cooperate with the authorities by taking precautions such as eliminating stagnant water in waste containers, junked tyres, pits, flowerpots, flowerbeds, coolers, and water leakages inside or near their houses, which can be a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes. People should cover their bodies as much as they can, avoid scented soaps and perfumes, and use mosquito repellents. It’s also essential to cleanse corners and dark areas in houses. Authorities should strictly implement precautionary measures without any delay or laxity. Similarly, residents who don’t adhere to norms should be penalised appropriately.

Dr Kulwant Singh Phull

Hospitals should be ready to tackle dengue

Viral fever, chikungunya, dengue, malaria, water-borne diseases like diarrhea, stomach infections are commonly seen during the monsoon period. Fogging in the areas along with advising to refrain from keeping water in coolers, are the ideal weapon to safeguard the masses from the mosquitoes and apart from this the safety from malaria, chikungunya and other viral diseases. “Safety saves, similarly health centres/ hospitals should have proper medicine to get the patient cured from the water- borne diseases or mosquito bites.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Keep overhead water tanks covered

Standing water caused by heavy rainfall or overflow of rivers can act as breeding sites for mosquitoes. In Jalandhar district, where more than 40 villages were impacted by the floods, there has been a rise in dengue cases, which further adds to the vulnerability of the rural region to this disease. Fatehgarh Sahib records the highest number of dengue cases with a total of 125, followed by Ferozepur (123), SAS Nagar (88), and SBS Nagar (87). These numbers indicate that the situation in these areas requires urgent attention and intervention from the relevant authorities. It is crucial to monitor the situation closely and take proactive steps to avert the further spread of the virus. The state is in the grip of dengue with 800 cases already reported so far this year. The number is almost double the cases reported till the end of August last year. Strict measures and guidelines must be implemented to contain the spread of the disease and to safeguard the health and well-being of the residents. Make sure to always keep your overhead water tanks properly covered and drain out water from coolers regularly. Scrub them dry at least once a week to preclude the risk of infection. In case of fever, get your blood examined as soon as possible, wear protective clothing such as full-sleeve clothes for added protection use mosquito repellents. By preventing stagnant water we, henceforth, kill the possible habitat for breeding dengue mosquitoes. If infected, take full treatment without delay to avoid further complications.

Lakshit Jindal

NGOs should carry out fogging in areas

Monsoon season has almost ended leaving behind its after effects in the form of many water-borne diseases and dengue is one of them. A large number of people are in the grip of this fever these days. As we all know that dengue is caused when a particular species of mosquito bite a person This mosquito breeds in stagnant water. We generally see that water stagnates in air coolers, small vessels tyres, and in many such water accumulations. So first of all we must supervise around us that there is no such stagnant water. Air coolers should be emptied and dried. Waste vessels kept outside should be thrown away so that water doesn’t accumulate. Fogging should be done extensively to kill the dengue causing mosquito. Mosquito repelling stickers should be used for small children while they are playing outside. Wearing socks and full sleeve shirt can be a saviour. Print and electronic media can be a big role in protecting people through awareness drive. As soon as we get the symptoms of this fever treatment should be started at the earliest. Civil hospitals should be fully equipped to treat the dengue patients. NGOs should come forward for the cleanliness drive, including fogging and spraying.

Anjali kumar

civic body surveys vulnerable spots

As climate change alters temperatures and weather patterns, the risk of vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria fever grip the residents every year. Surprisingly, despite repeated alerts and uproarious claims by the administration of taking control measures, there is no let-up in the spread of the ailment. A big spike of dengue patients in hospitals at the onset of monsoon is observed with varied complications like rapid declining platelets and severe headache. In some cases, the critical patients need to be inseminated with a dose of platelets immediately for survival. However, the problem gets more serious as many of our healthcare centres lack facilities and proper sanitation. Many government hospitals are not even equipped with aphaeresis machines that separate blood into platelets and other components and in some them the machines are not in order. Attributing to the poor maintenance of equipment and the ill-preparedness to face the challenge, the disease causes big scare by taking a toll of many human lives. Notably, the dengue fever is caused by mosquito bite that usually breeds in flowerpots and on stagnant water. It bites humans during the day time in contrast to malaria mosquitoes that attack at night. Thus at the very face, the ferocity of disease can be prevented by personal hygiene and coordinated action by the health and municipal authorities. By ensuring thorough cleanliness well before the rainy season and arranging periodic fogging in the localities can be helpful to prevent breeding of larvae. The officials must conduct survey of all vulnerable spots and take required safeguards during the moist climatic conditions besides sensitising people about the precautionary steps to be undertaken to avoid spreading of disease. The patients coming to hospitals must be promptly attended and provided urgent medical care by the medical staff. Apparently, there should not be dearth of financial support to health systems to withstand excessive burden during medication under any adverse situation.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Maintain healthy drainage system

To entirely inhibit the spread of abhorrent dengue, the most effective technique would be to identify and demolish its habitat or origin. The drainage process must be expedited, and rectified, in case of any malfunctioning, to avert the stagnation of water. The officials must go the extra mile, in checking the proliferation of the dengue-infected, by conducting door-to-door awareness campaigns, regular fogging, tracing and the subsequent destruction of dengue larvae, in the declared or recurring hotspots. To avoid wastage of time, every dengue season, in devising an anti-dengue strategy, a special, specific, business-like, counter-dengue policy must be mulled, besides a ‘ Drive Away Dengue’ dedicated unit being put in place.

Anshika Kohli

Drink plenty of fluids

About 400 million dengue infections occur in the world every year. This fever usually occurs in tropical areas. The Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, southern China, Taiwan, the Pacific Islands, Central America, and South America are the most vulnerable areas. Symptoms of dengue usually begin four to six days after infection, but they could last for 10 days. High fever, severe headache, and pain behind the eyes severe joint and muscle pain are some common symptoms of this fever. Patients may also suffer from fatigue. In a few cases, these conditions could lead to death. Such a condition is called dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Until today, there was no specific treatment for dengue infection. Doctors suggest the infected take a break and drink plenty of fluids.

Harsimrat Kaur  

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