Kathmandu, October 30

Dengue testing kits have gone out of stock at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division.

The division has, therefore, appealed all health practitioners to use the kits only when required.

“There aren’t any kits with us now. It has already been three days since we ran out of stock,” informed Tilak Bahadur Poudel, supply chain officer at EDCD. “We have started the process for purchasing kits. We are buying test kits worth Rs 500,000 immediately,” he added.

EDCD has, however, appealed to patients not to panic regarding the unavailability of test kits. It stated the division had already allocated money for public health centres in districts to buy test kits from suppliers. Dengue test kits are in high demand in Chitwan, Mahottari, Bara, Jhapa and Nawalarasi districts.

“Health practitioners used kits even for seasonal fever. People too demanded dengue test when they had high fever,” said Dr Bibek Kumar Lal, chief at Vector Borne Disease Section, EDCD.

Doctors also advised health practitioners to use dengue test kits if there were dengue symptoms in patients. “Proper screening should be done before using the kit,” Dr Lal added.

A total of 854 dengue cases have been reported this year. Last year there were 1,529 cases of dengue across the country.

Dengue is a vector borne disease transmitted by mosquitoes infected with dengue virus serotypes. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the primary vector of dengue in Nepal. The virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected female mosquitoes.