To know the type of the dengue virus in Dehradun this season, the district Health Department has sent blood samples of the affected patients to the Post Graduate Institute Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
The Health Department has recently sent five samples to this premier institute for identifying the serotype (genetic build) of the virus.
The District Vector Borne Diseases Officer, J P Bahuguna said that serotype testing is done to identify the type of virus of dengue.
He informed that there are four strains of dengue virus and out of these Den II type is supposed to be the most lethal.
The serotype of the virus also helps in devising the strategy to minimise the impact of the disease. A person affected by one type of the virus develops life long immunity from that strain but can be infected by another strain subsequently.
The chances of mortality in this kind of infection increases as the immune system of the body can get deceived by this different strain of virus. The Health Department is expecting the report from PGIMER soon.
Meanwhile, the numbers of dengue cases in the State Capital continue to increase with a rapid pace. The district Health Department has reported 425 dengue cases in this season till date. The Health Department’s claim of an extensive anti dengue campaign has fallen flat on its face with the dengue spreading unabated here.
The relatives of the patients are having a tough time arranging the platelets as all the blood banks here are having almost no or very limited stock of life saving platelets.
The worrying factor for the district health officials is that the dengue patients are being reported from all parts of the city. The Department was earlier guilty of concentrating all its energies in the Patharibagh area of the city where an outbreak of the disease occurred.
In its effort to control the disease in this locality the Department ignored other areas which resulted in the disease making an appearance there also.
The extent to which the disease has affected Dehradun can be measured with the fact that the district has reported 425 cases of the disease out of total 438 cases reported in the state so far.
Nainital with 13 dengue cases is the only other district from Dehradun from where the disease is being reported.