After UP's Firozabad, dengue cases reported in Madhya Pradesh

More than a dozen cases of dengue have been reported from Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district, after as many as 51 people, including at least 36 children, died in western Uttar Pradesh over the past two weeks, according to a report. "Gwalior has reported 16 confirmed cases of dengue. We are keeping an eye on the situation,” Dr Manish Sharma, chief medical and health officer of Gwalior, told ANI. "In coordination with the municipal corporation, we are doing contact tracing and door-to-door survey. The hotspot zones where we had the highest cases of dengue are under strict observation. Our team is monitoring and doing larvae surveys. Sanitisation and fogging are being carried out by sanitisation workers,” he said on Monday.

Sharma also appealed to the people to maintain cleanliness in and around their locality, listed the do's and don'ts to curb the spread of dengue as he urged them to get themselves tested if they show any symptoms. "We have a large number of patients with the symptoms of fever, we are conducting tests,” Dr Nishant Nayak from the Civil Hospital in Gwalior said.

On Monday, the Union ministry of health and family welfare’s expert team rushed to Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district following a fever outbreak, said that a majority of the cases are due to dengue as well as scrub typhus and leptospirosis. "Vector Indices were also found to be high with House Index and Container Index, both above 50 per cent, in Firozabad district and accordingly the vector surveillance and control measures have been instituted," Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter to UP chief secretary.

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Bhushan asked the UP government to screen all fever patients for dengue, malaria, scrub typhus and leptospirosis based on the detailed observations of the central team after the outbreak in Firozabad. He also said the state needs to strengthen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based testing facilities. "Activities related to fever survey, vector control and fever camps should continue as per micro plan submitted by the Central Team. Surveillance should be strengthened with the implementation of IHIP in the district in coordination with CSU IDSP, NCDC. Entomological activities should be strengthened and continued as per standard guidelines and SOPs of NVBDCP," Bhushan said in the letter.

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While dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection, scrub typhus is caused by bacteria spread by mites and leptospirosis spreads through water or soil contaminated by the urine of bacteria-infected animals such as pigs, dogs, rodents, etc. The rainy season is considered the active breeding time for vector-borne diseases, including dengue.

(With agency inputs)