Co-operation stressed to control Dengue outbreak

OSR/DIPR
IMPHAL, Sep 22 : With Dengue outbreak across the valley districts becoming a serious concern, a review meeting was convened with Health Minister Dr Sapam Ranjan and top officials of National Health Mission (NHM), Manipur at RD Wing complex at Lamphelpat in attendance today.
The meeting chaired by Dr Ranjan reviewed and discussed the measures being taken up to control the spread of Dengue infection.
Symptoms of Dengue include headache, muscle, bone or joint pain, nausea, vomiting, pain behind the eyes, swollen glands, blood in the stool and rash.
Addressing the media after the meeting, the Health Minister said that cooperation of the people is crucial to control and prevent Dengue outbreak.
Saying that the Health Department and NHM have been putting in maximum efforts to reduce the risk of Dengue infections as much as possible, the Minister added that all efforts, however, will be in vain if the people don't cooperate.
The State has  been witnessing a sharp rise in Dengue cases since August, he said.
Dr Ranjan further stated that 148 Dengue cases were reported in August and the figures slightly increased to approximately 212 cases this month (till September 20).
Emphasising the crucial need for community involvement in the fight against Dengue, the Minister reiterated that the Health Department alone cannot combat the disease effectively.
“We need the participation of everyone—households, localities, and communities. Only together can we successfully fight Dengue,” the Minister stated.
Health officials and staff have been actively working on tracing and monitoring cases and going strongly with the source reduction programmes, he said while expressing concern over the lack of cooperation from people in certain areas.
In many instances, health teams were denied access to inspect mosquito breeding grounds, with some even facing hostility, the Minister said and urged the public to fully cooperate with the authorities.
Stressing the importance of eliminating potential breeding sites for mosquitoes, which are the primary carriers of the Dengue virus, Dr Ranjan warned that breeding grounds are often found in unexpected places such as ritual pots and flower pots.
Any object which collects water can become a breeding site for mosquitoes.
He assured that the Health Department is following established protocol to combat Dengue and will continue its efforts.
The Minister reiterated that without the participation and cooperation of the community, these measures will not be enough to contain the outbreak.
He appealed to the public to work together and join the efforts in the fight against Dengue and eliminate the mosquito breeding grounds. The press meet was attended by top officials of the Health & Family Welfare Department.
On asked about carrying out a fogging exercise at isolated houses, State Malaria Officer Dr S Priyokumar said that the general belief that carrying out fogging exercises from houses to  houses will prevent Dengue outbreak is untrue.
Fogging has to be done in a 100 metre radius of the house of the Dengue infected  person as per Government guidelines to kill the infected mosquitoes, he said and added that there won't be much benefit even if fogging is done in the entire locality when a person from the area is infected by Dengue virus as it could not kill Aedes eggs.
Fogging is not a measure to prevent Dengue outbreak as the purpose of the exercise is only to  kill the infected mosquitoes, not the  eggs, he added.
Continuing that Aedes eggs become adult mosquitoes in just 7-10 days, Dr Priyokumar maintained that Aedes mosquitoes breed in stagnant water and objects which hold water in and around residential areas.
Dr Priyokumar further said that Dengue mosquitoes cannot fly more than 100 metres.
Stating that Imphal East and Imphal West  reported the majority of the Dengue cases, he said that one person from Keishamthong Elangbam Leikai died of Dengue a couple of days back and this is only death case for the year.
He also said that the mortality rate of Dengue is very low (0.33 per cent) though no vaccine has been developed for the vector borne disease as of yet.
He further appealed to all people to go for testing if they develop symptoms for Dengue infections.