Govt to form short-term plans to check dengue

Kathmandu, October 26:

The Health Ministry will formulate short-term and long-term plans in a few days to check the possible spread of dengue next year, an official at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) in Health Ministry said today.

The EDCD has completed an entomological survey in three major hospitals of Terai districts. It has also provided laboratory kits and collected samples for lab tests. The survey was conducted in Bheri Zonal Hospital, Koshi Zonal Hospital and Birgunj Sub-Regional Hospital. “The survey indicates that dengue can be more dangerous next year,” said Dr Manas Banerjee, director at the EDCD.

The EDCD is intensifying a search for suspected cases in Tulsipur and Ghorahi municipalities, which are highly susceptible to dengue.

“The most effective way to check dengue is destroying the breeding places of mosquitoes along with the timely medical treatment,” said Dr Banerjee.

One Nepali had recently died of dengue fever in India.

The EDCD is focusing mainly on high-risk districts. It is training people to use natural repellent to ward off the mosquitoes that spread dengue fever, providing bed nets, organising training and monitoring the programmes launched to check dengue.

Of the four cases, three were detected in Kathmandu, while one case was reported in Nepalgunj.

The movement of one case detected in Nepalgunj was traced to Lucknow, while another college student of Kathmandu was found to have lived in Delhi. Save the girl in Nepalgunj, all other patients are suffering from dengue fever.