Dengue cases hit new high in a month

The number of dengue cases reported in the State has reached an all-time high. As many as 3,026 cases have been reported this year. Of which, over 1,100 cases were reported in a month’s time, from July 23 to August 23, 2015.

As many as 966 confirmed cases of dengue fever were reported in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits. According to City doctors, even as the fever cases have come down by the end of May, the last two weeks have registered a gradual increase in the cases.

According to the Health and Family Welfare department,  1,136 cases of chikungunya were reported in the State. Of which, 322 cases are from palike limits.

A senior official of the Health department said, “Due to the elections, not much attention was paid to create awareness nor review the statistics in the past one month or so.”

Dr G M Vamadeva, Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare, however, said that the department has been actively involved in spreading the message along with the BBMP. “We have vehicles plying on City roads  to create awareness. Besides this, the BBMP engineers have been asked to pay attention to better disposal of solid and bio-medical waste as they act as primary sources for mosquito breeding,” he added.

Speaking about the rise in cases over the last one month, Dr Vishwanath Veeranna, Director, In-charge, Indira gandhi Institute of Child health Hospital, said that there was no spurt, yet, a growing trend of increase in cases was noticed.

“By mid-July we saw a fall in the numbers. Compared to this, the cases reported in the last 15 days are high. However, these are not as high as they were in the peak season. We are expecting the same trend to continue till September and first week of October,” he explained.