The advent of cold weather conditions which was expected to control the further spread of dengue virus in State capital hasn’t had the desired effect so far, causing concern among the health department officials. Having failed to contain the menace of the disease the health department was pinning its hope on reduction in temperature to control the disease.
The district vector borne diseases officer JP Bahuguna claimed that the department is in a proactive mode to control the disease.
As per the department data, 1,194 people in Dehradun have so far tested positive for dengue in the season. The official data reveals that only two persons have died due to the disease in this season.
The health department considers the samples found positive and tested its own lab at associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) for Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (ElISA) as confirmed case of dengue.
In such a scenario where the number of dengue cases is rising every day a further dip in temperature holds the key for containing the disease. In State capital the maximum and minimum temperature is hovering around 31 and 16 degrees these days.
The head of department of Zoology at DAV PG College here RK Johri said that the virus of dengue becomes inactive when the minimum temperature falls below 15 degree centigrade and the maximum temperature also gets a dip.
The experts believe that such weather conditions would take at least ten more days to set in and till then the people would remain exposed to the virus of dengue.