Dengue refuses to relent, over 50 cases surface in November

RUDRAPUR: Catching the Uttarakhand health department off the guard, eight more cases of dengue have surfaced in the past two days in Udham Singh Nagar district, a departure from the past when a dip in the mercury used to wipe out the disease. As of now, over 50 dengue patients are recuperating at various government hospitals and clinics of the district, according to sources.

The exact number of dengue patients in the district was not known due to the absence of data from the private hospitals and nursing homes.

Senior physician at the district hospital, Dr M K Tiwari, said that the dengue mosquito remains active only in the monsoon season and, for the first time, these cases are surfacing in November.

The hospital’s Out Patient Department (OPD) is registering over a dozen fever patients daily. Their blood samples are taken on a precautionary measure and the test for dengue is conducted, the doctor said. With the surfacing of more dengue cases, a team of physicians has been asked to stay alert, he added. The hospital had set up an isolation ward in the monsoon season to deal with the mosquito-borne disease.

Four members of a family, comprising a man and his three children, from Pahadganj area, have been tested positive for dengue and shifted to the isolation ward. Four other patients from parts of the district were also tested positive and admitted to the district hospital, Dr Tiwari said.

In Rudrapur’s Narayan hospital over 20 dengue patients are admitted. Dr Pradeep Adlakha, managing director of the private hospital, described the condition as "alarming".

“The situation is alarming as the dengue virus was never active in the low temperature. Either the temperature has not dropped as much as it used to be November or the virus has become immune to the low temperature,” said Dr Adlakha.

Meanwhile, environmentalist Pran Chadhha blamed it on the global warning.

Commissioner of the municipal corporation, Deepti Singh, said that the civic body is taking several steps like fumigation in all the colonies to check the disease.