Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, DEC 6 (NPN) : Against the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic which has totally disrupted normal life in the state, reports of Dengue cases in Dimapur is causing concern among medical practitioners as it could have the potential of worsening the already over stretched health system.
As per sources, four patients diagnosed with dengue have been admitted to a private hospital. Dengue virus is transmitted by female mosquitoes mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and, to a lesser extent, Ae. albopictus. These mosquitoes are also vectors of chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses
In 2018, Nagaland witnessed outbreak of dengue cases which took an epidemic form. In that year, out of 240 dengue cases from Dimapur and Kohima, Dimapur alone reported 235 dengue cases.
Many patients infected by the Dengue virus will be completely asymptomatic. Most symptomatic patients will present with a flu like illness, with fever, headache, pain behind the eyes, myalgias, arthralgias, nausea, and vomiting. A maculopapular rash is present in 50-80% of symptomatic patients. Petechial rashes, epistaxis, and oral mucous membrane hemorrhage can sometimes also occur.
About 5% of patients will present with more severe disease (hemorrhage and hypovolemic shock). It is life threatening in a small proportion of cases (<1%) and can lead to death despite treatment.
At an inter-sectoral meeting on dengue seminar in 2018, it was disclosed that entomological survey and inspections carried out in various localities here recently found that the percentage of house index, which indicates the presence of dengue eggs and larvae, was alarmingly high. The high rate of house index suggests that there is a high risk of transmission and increased cases of dengue.
The impact of a ‘dengue-COVID-19’ season would entail two different diagnostic tests and extract a huge toll on patients too, each disease making the other more complicated to deal with and perhaps more fatal
According to renowned virologist, virologist Shahid Jameel, based on 2016-2019 data, he estimated that India gets about 100,000 to 200,000 confirmed cases of dengue each year.
Another virologist at Kolkata, Dhrubjyoti Chattopadhyay, warned that dengue may aggravate the COVID-19 situation as both viruses may supplement each other.
In August last, the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) informed that vector density (number of mosquito population) was increasing in various localities of Dimapur.
This was found during a routine entomological study by NVBDCP on Malaria, Dengue and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vector density in various localities in Dimapur.
NVBDCP appealed to the community/public all over the state to remove stagnant water from all containers around the house like flower pot bases, empty vessels, coolers, tyres, buckets etc. once a week as mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and the eggs would hatch in a week.
Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/dengue-cases-reported-in-dimapur/225682.html
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