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Dengue outbreak in state: 349 cases in just 3 days

Last Updated 20 July 2017, 21:02 IST

At least 349 people across the state have been diagnosed with dengue in three days. According to the health department, the cases were registered in just 72 hours. Dengue is characterised by headache and high fever, and can be fatal. It has claimed five lives in Karnataka this year.

Since January, about 5,000 dengue cases have been registered in Karnataka. Bengaluru alone has reported about 2,000 cases. Top private hospitals in Bengaluru are out of beds, DH had reported on Wednesday. Patients with viral fever are being admitted as inpatients.

The numbers are alarming, although they aren’t any higher than in previous years, doctors in private hospitals said.

This past week, about 100 dengue cases were reported in each of the districts of Mandya, Mysuru, Davanagere, Tumakuru, Udupi, and Shivamogga.

Health officials attribute the rise in dengue cases to water scarcity, and the subsequent storage of water, leading to mosquito breeding.

“Water is supplied only once a week in many districts, so people are storing water wherever they can,” said Dr Prakash Kumar, deputy director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, Bengaluru.

Teams are going around the districts educating people about diseases spread by mosquitoes. A precaution is to cover water containers. Another is to spray larvicide in stored water if larva formation is noticed, he said.

“Whenever there is an outbreak like this, we take help from the health workers of neighbouring blocks, and we also ask volunteers, nursing students and Asha workers to conduct surveys,” Dr Kumar told DH. If it rains continuously, breeding places are washed out. But if the showers are intermittent, they increase, he explained. Only 1% of confirmed dengue cases need hospitalisation, he said, advising people with dengue to take paracetamol tablets and a liquid diet

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(Published 20 July 2017, 21:02 IST)

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