Rise in Dengue Cases at Hyderabad Causes Alarm, Several Deaths Reported

Hyderabad is being witnessed to the worst dengue outbreak in India, with the number of cases of the mosquito-borne disease on a constant rise. While other monsoon diseases like malaria, chikungunya, zika and Japanese encephalitis, are causing equal worries, dengue cases in the city have not seen a stop, evens weeks after government’s efforts to downplay the outbreak. The state government has now decided to swing into action to begin prevention drives.

As per official records, more than 150 cases of vector-borne disease dengue were recorded in August 2019 alone, which records for the worst numbers this year. In addition, the mosquito-borne disease has claimed more than 50 lives, as mentioned in the reports. Over the past few days, 530 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported in the state, of which more than 370 are from Hyderabad.

In its measure to keep a check on the growth of mosquitoes, the officials carried out a precautionary plan. As a part of it, health authorities carried out around 800 survey camps, 140 campaigns, 36 school rallies and 123 advocacy meetings over the last three months.

It is to be noted that dengue is caused by the bite of aedes aegypti mosquito. Dengue fever can be caused by any one of four types of dengue viruses, which are spread by mosquitoes that thrive in and near human lodgings.

The state government’s action plan includes door-to-door visits for active surveillance, awareness drives on personal protection methods and source reduction. It is being said by the health officials that if the action plan is carried properly, it will be able to avoid the dengue epidemic in Telangana, especially in Hyderabad.

An official from the Health Department said, “Dengue is an urban disease and is increasing in all parts of the country. Despite measures, we can see an increase in the number of cases across the city. In this condition, fogging and anti-larval measures can only be useful to a limited extent and preventive measures on an individual basis are what can help.”

He added, “The disease-causing mosquito can breed even in clean water if it stagnates for over 24 hours, which means it can breed inside washed utensils, in in the kitchen sink or flower pots. Therefore individual awareness has to be focused on a lot more.”