705 dengue cases in U'khand; 550 in Haridwar alone

Dehradun: Uttarakhand has recorded 705 cases of dengue this year, including 550 cases in Haridwar alone, followed by 126 in Dehradun, 24 in Nainital and five in Udham Singh Nagar. According to authorities, no cases have been recorded in the other nine districts of the state. However, a major cause of concern continues to be the presence of three out of the four strains of the virus – Denv1, Denv2 and Denv3 - in Dehradun. Out of these, Denv2 is considered to be the most virulent due to its potential to cause hemorrhagic fever. The hotspots of dengue in Dehradun are Indira Nagar, Seema Dwar and Vasant Vihar, officials said.

In Haridwar district, outbreaks have occurred in Narsen, Bhagwanpur, Roorkee, Bhadrabad and Haridwar blocks. Most of the cases have been in October. As per data accessed by TOI, Haridwar had just one case in August, eight in September, 511 in October and 13 till November 6. According to Haridwar’s vector-borne diseases team, despite witnessing the highest number of cases, the virus strains in the district remain unidentified.

“The samples sent for testing to Chandigarh had low virus load because of which the strains could not be identified. Now, the samples are being sent to a Delhi-based laboratory,” said vector-borne disease officer Gurnam Singh.

Meanwhile, a two-member team from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, is on a visit to Uttarakhand on the directions of the Union health ministry and will be carrying samples for virus strains identification to Delhi. On November 1, the Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had directed the ministry officials to visit eight states where the dengue load is exceedingly high, including Uttarakhand.