The East Singhbhum district civil surgeon’s office on Tuesday issued an alert of dengue and Japanese Encephalitis ( JE) in Steel City following surfacing of several suspected cases of both the vector-borne diseases.
Sources in district health Department said that 14 suspected cases of dengue and four of Japanese Encephalitis were reported alone from Tata Main Hospital(TMH).
Civil surgeon Dr. SK Jha said, “the Department has sounded a general alert to all hospitals, nursing homes and other health centres in Jamshedpur. They are keeping a vigil on the situation.”
Sahir Pall, district officer for the Centre’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said the blood serum sample of suspected patients was sent to microbiology department of MGM Medical College in Dimna for confirming the diseases. “ The report is expected in another 48-hours,” he said
Sources in TMH informed that the 14 suspected cases of dengue include eight male and six female patients. The female patients are mostly of middle-age while the male patients include a seven year old boy and a 57-year-old man. While all the four JE suspected cases involve children- three
male and one female- in the age group between 4-12 years. According to sources, the patients of the vector-borne diseases belong to various places like Mango, Birsanagar, Sakchi, Sonari, Kadma, Bagbera and Adityapur in adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district. Three suspected patients also hail from Barbil in neighbouring Odisha.
In 2015 a total of 23 blood serum samples were sent to the microbiology department of MGM Medical College for IgM ElISA test of which 10 tested positive while for JE over 200 samples were sent of which 40 were found positive.
“As per latest directive of the district civil surgeon we have asked our men to carry out fogging exercise in the affected areas of Jugsalai and Mango with focus on identifying and destroying unused containers storing waters in houses and localities and educating locals about steps to prevent breeding of dengue vectors,” said the official.
This exercise would be held simultaneously with routine methods of spraying larvicidal in the area.
According to experts the unattended filth and garbage spread all over are some of the major reasons that have led to the breeding of mosquitoes.
In most cases, the garbage and waste is overflowing for days as the concerned staff do not bother to remove it through the waste lifters. Areas like Jugsalai, Baghbera, Pursudih, Marine Drive, Sundernagar are worst hit.
“Heaps of garbage and filth lie unattended in our locality but there is no one to listen. A drain is over flowing nearby our complex though I went to lodge a complained at Jugsalai Municipality but despite assurances the situation remains the same.The stink and unhygienic atmosphere bothers commuters, especially pedestrians using footpaths along the roads. People inhale these particles and fell victim to various infectious diseases,” noted Ritesh Sharma of Jugsalai.