Dengue, the dreaded vector borne disease spread by Tiger mosquito is continuing to scare the people of Uttarakhand.
On Thursday, the health department reported 175 new cases of the disease in the state. With them the number of patients affected by the disease in the State this season has mounted to 6175. Dehradun district continues to be at the forefront of the dengue menace with the district health authorities reporting 125 new cases of the disease on the day.
With them the figure of the patients affected by the disease in provisional state capital mounted to 3731 which is highest in recent years. In the state eight persons have so far been reported dead by the health authorities by dengue out of which six deaths have occurred in Dehradun alone. Nainital with 1,833 cases of the disease so far is second most affected district in the State after Dehradun.
In this district, two persons, so far, have succumbed to dengue.
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr S K Gupta said that the health department is an alert mode on the disease.
He said that isolation wards for the patients of the disease have been setup in different hospitals and teams of the department are conducting door to door survey and engaged in source reduction activities.
The CMO added that there is no need of panic for the disease but advised people to ensure that breeding grounds inside and in the vicinity of their houses is destroyed.
He said that people should wear full sleeved clothes during day time to reduce exposure for the mosquito bite.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito.
The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints.