The medical health and family welfare department of the State capital is bracing itself to tackle the threat of dengue which increases during the rainy season. To inform people about the preventive measures to be taken for minimising the spread of the dreaded disease, the office of National Vector Borne diseases control programme here is engaging in an awareness campaign.
The District Vector Born Diseases officer, JP Bahuguna informed The Pioneer that as part of the awareness drive, the department is sending letters to all the elected members of village Panchayat in the district. He said that letters accompanied with the message of Health Minister and pamphlets mentioning simple measures to be adopted for prevention of the diseases are sent to 62 village Panchayats of Raipur block, 54 Panchayats of Doiwala, 55 of Vikasnagar and 96 of Kalsi Block. He said that though Chakrata is least affected area the department would send letters to the elected representatives of this area too. Apart from the village Panchayat members the department is sending the informative material to all the ward members of urban local bodies. The department is also sending brochures and booklets to all the Government schools of the district. Bahuguna said that the best way to combat the disease to destroy the breeding ground of the mosquito.
Dengue is a viral infection spread by the mosquito Aedes Aezypti popularly known as Tiger Mosquito due to the characteristic strips over its body. The symptoms of the disease are persistent high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints. In the acute cases the platelets number decrease alarmingly which may prove fatal for the patient. The female Aedes Azeypti can lay its eggs in as small as 5 ml of water and it bites during the daytime.
Bahuguna said that people should decant collected water in their fridges, coolers, pots or cans and kerosene or other oils should be spread over small water bodies to destroy the larvae.
In Uttarakhand the disease is more prevalent in Dehradun and Haridwar district. The departmental data suggest that 121 cases of Dengue were reported in the district last year. The disease assumed epidemic proportions in the year 2010 when as many as 2900 cases were reported.