Mangalore, Jun 4: District Health Officer Srirangappa has said that 67 cases of dengue, 1,534 cases of malaria and 34 cases of rat-fever had been reported in Dakshina Kannada since January this year.
Addressing a press meet here on Monday, he said that dengue had become endemic in the district since 2003, and all preventive measures to check the spread of dengue and malaria were initiated by the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
He said that about 144 cases of dengue had been reported in 2011 and about 300 in 2012. Out of the 67 cases that were reported this year, a majority of them were detected at Guthigar in Sullia taluk, Navoor and Daivasthala in Bantwal taluk and Kaniyur in Belthangady taluk, he said.
Out of the 1,534 cases of malaria reported this year, 1,266 cases were reported in the city and 268 cases in rural areas. In 2012, about 6,215 malaria cases were reported in the district including 5,327 cases in the city and 888 in rural areas, he said.
Preventive measures
The DHO said that community action was essential to check the spread of diseases, with source reduction and health education being the need of the hour. He assured people that the district was equipped with enough medicines to treat patients diagnosed with dengue. NS1 antigen antibody kits have been supplied to all the primary health centres in the district to conduct tests on persons suffering from symptoms of dengue. All the dengue affected patients have been cured of the disease. Not everybody diagnosed with the virus has serious problems. In almost majority of the cases, the disease is cured without any complications, he said.
The district health authorities are keen on containing the diseases, as various departments in the district are gearing up with contingency plans to tackle the monsoon, which also aid in breeding of mosquitoes.
He said that all the primary health centres in the district will create awareness on the spread of vector borne diseases, with the help of elected representatives, religious heads, women and child welfare department staff. Anti-malaria month will be observed in the district till June 30. A week-long door-to-door campaign will be carried out by the health workers, Asha workers, anganwadi workers to create awareness among the general public from June 10 to 15. During the awareness programme, stagnant water which breeds mosquitoes will be cleaned to contain the breeding of mosquitoes in the surrounding. All the private nursing homes and private clinics have been directed to report on dengue cases to the district surveillance office daily, said Mr Srirangappa.
He urged the public to keep their surroundings clean in order to prevent stagnation of water and subsequent breeding of mosquitoes in their vicinity.
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