Dengue on rise, two more deaths take count to 17 in Ludhiana district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, November 8

The dreaded dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease occurring in tropical and subtropical areas, is spreading its tentacles fast as 154 cases of the vector-borne disease have been reported in the past week and the tally has almost doubled in the past three weeks in the district, the official figures have revealed.

With two more deaths suspected to be caused by the disease on Wednesday, the count of suspected dengue deaths has risen to 17.

Another 26 fresh cases on Wednesday took the tally of confirmed patients to 920, which was 20.1 per cent more than 766 positive cases recorded here on November 1.

The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that the number of Ludhiana’s confirmed dengue patients has shot up from 81 on August 25 to 252 on September 23, 564 on October 21, 766 on November 1, and further rose to 920 on November 8, which accounted for a whopping 1,036 per cent surge in almost two-and-a-half-months.

Drive to contain spread

We have been regularly reviewing the situation arising out of dengue, malaria and other vector-borne diseases in the district and have been undertaking a joint concerted campaign with the help of all departments concerned to contain the further spread of such cases in the district. – Surabhi Malik, Deputy Commissioner

As many as 154 fresh cases have been reported during the past week alone. The trend in the past three weeks showed that the dengue patient count has almost doubled from 464 on October 17 to 920 on November 8.

Taking cognisance of the situation, Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik has directed district officials of all the departments concerned – Health, Public Health, and Municipal Corporation – to take effective steps to check the further spread of the vector-borne diseases in the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population.

Director, Family Planning, Dr Hitinder Kaur Sohal, who is also holding the additional charge of Civil Surgeon, told The Tribune on Wednesday that a massive test, trace, and treat campaign was being undertaken by the Health Department to check the spread of dengue and malaria cases in the district.

She said 26 fresh cases of dengue were confirmed in the district on Wednesday, which included 22 from urban and four from rural areas.

With this, the cumulative total of dengue cases has reached 920, of which 120 active patients, including 90 in urban and 30 in rural areas, were admitted to various government and private health institutions in the district. Except single active patient admitted to the Civil Hospital, all other serious patients were under treatment at private hospitals.

The district has also recorded the death of 17 patients with dengue-like symptoms but their actual cause of death was yet to be confirmed. “These casualties have been marked as suspected dengue deaths as yet,” the Civil Surgeon said.

Last year, six dengue deaths had been reported in Ludhiana. Dr Sohal said adequate arrangements had been made at all government institutions to test and treat the dengue and malaria patients with a special ward reserved for dengue patients at the Civil Hospital here.

Urban-rural divide

Urban areas were much more prone to dengue as compared to rural areas in the district. Of the total 26 confirmed patients reported on Wednesday, 22 were from urban areas while villages have reported only four dengue cases.

The number of active cases was also more in urban areas with 90 seriously ill patients under hospitalisation in the city while 30 dengue patients had been hospitalised from rural areas.

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