KOHIMA — As many as 96 dengue positive cases and seven cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) have been reported in Nagaland over the past six-seven months.
This was informed to Eastern Mirror on Thursday by Dr. Neisakho Kere, State Programme Officer (SPO), National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP).
The health official said that out of the total dengue cases in the state, five were reported from Merapani under Wokha district, three from Mon district and the remaining cases from Dimapur district.
However, no deaths (through IgM ELISA test) have been reported till date from dengue cases in the state, Kere informed, adding that the Health department is on the job with the entomological teams taking up various activities on the field to control the outbreak .
As for the seven JE cases, six are from Dimapur and one from Wokha.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Pointing out that most of the private hospitals are using Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) tests, he said some of the RDT products are high in sensitivity but very low in specificity, which may result in the test comeing out as positive.
Kere said that people should be careful about the diagnosis through rapid tests as so many samples return positive through such tests. To properly detect the cases, all such positive samples should be sent to either Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) or District Hospital Dimapur for confirmation, he said.
Meanwhile, the SPO informed that the department is conducting fogging drives in the affected areas, as well as initiating information, education and communication (IEC) activities to contain the outbreak of the diseases.
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