Immunization drive to be held in Nagapattinam to contain JE cases

Trichy: With four Japanese encephalitis (JE) cases – two of them in Gaja-affected areas – having been reported in Nagapattinam district since November, the state health department has intensified measures to curb the disease. An immunisation drive will be carried out in Nagapattinam district this year, along with other districts that have been categorised as endemic for the disease.

Earlier this month, when a message about JE spreading in delta districts made its rounds on social media, the health department had dismissed them as rumours.

Director of public health (DPH) Dr K Kolandasamy said the situation was under control in Nagapattinam and there was no reason to panic. “JE is within the sporadic limit in Nagapattinam and this year immunisation would be conducted there too.”

The four reported cases comprised three women and a boy. All of them have recovered. No case of JE was reported in the district earlier in 2018; in 2017 two cases were reported.

JE is a vector-borne viral disease caused by the bite of culex mosquitoes. Some of the common symptoms are high fever, headache, altered sensorium, vomiting and fatigue. Culex mosquitoes breed predominantly in farmlands, especially in paddy fields. According to the officials, the mosquito bred in the flood-affected areas as there was water stagnation in coconut and casuarina groves. “Generally, water doesn’t stagnate as much in casuarina groves as much in paddy fields. But due to Gaja, casuarina and coconut groves were inaccessible initially leading to water stagnation there. Later, labourers were sent there and they addressed the issue,” a health official said.

As a part of culex mosquito eradication in Nagapattinam district, fogging is done to kill adult mosquitoes and oil balls are thrown in places there is water stagnation as a part of anti-larval activity. “Farmers have been instructed to ensure there’s no water stagnation in the fields,” a source said.

A total of 16 districts in Tamil Nadu are endemic for JE - Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Trichy, Madurai, Virudhunagar and Karur. Of these, Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tirunelveli figured only this year.