Dimapur, November 18 : With 33 new cases of dengue reported in Dimapur district in the last few weeks, the total number of people afflicted by the vector-borne disease has increased to 106, according to Dr Moa, District Vector Borne Officer (DVBO).
Diphupar-A, Burma Camp, Notun Bosti and Nagarjan are the areas that have the highest cases of dengue. Considering the spread of the disease, the department with the assistance of Dimapur district administration is planning to conduct intensive fogging in Dimapur town within 10 days, Dr Moa informed Eastern Mirror on Friday.
He informed the department will be covering nine colonies everyday by three groups and targets to cover all areas of Dimapur within 10 days.
A source informed Eastern Mirror that with just five small fogging machines and with the alarming spread of dengue for first time, it was impossible on the part of department to reach out to all the areas.
Though there has been unconfirmed dengue related deaths in Dimapur, Dr Moa asserted ‘only ELISA test can confirm the authenticity of dengue death and the ELISA test kit is available only at Dimapur district hospital’. He also said: “Officially we cannot put on record that the deaths are dengue-related unless confirmed through ELISA test.”
Two positive dengue cases from Mokokchung and one from Kohima have been reported. These three positive dengue cases were infected in Dimapur, the DVBO said. Only one imported case has been detected so far confirming that the cases are local outbreak.
Clarifying on the wrong notion on dengue outbreak, Dr Moa pointed out that the outbreak occurs due to ‘domesticated mosquitoes’ in one’s own compound that breed in small collection of water. For this intensive sanitation should be carried out every household, he stressed and added that the colony council should take initiative in controlling the social menace at their respective colony.
Admitting that the dengue cases are on the rise, he said the disease is infecting mostly adults with 106 positive cases out of 573 samples. The imported cases cannot be detected as most of the hospitals fail to provide accurate information and follow the format which makes it difficult for the department to detect the source of the outbreak.
The fogging drive will not control the outbreak totally and needs joint efforts of every household through sanitation to break the cycle of transmission as the spread of dengue is quick, Dr Moa explained.
