In Vigilance Mode

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ministry is all geared up to prevent the spread of dengue during the monsoon. Greater public awareness too is called for to control the menace
By Team Double Helical

As the monsoon season during which the fear of the spread of dengue remains predominant, is on, J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare recently held a high level meeting to review the preparedness of the Government in prevention and control of dengue in the country.
During the meeting, the Health and Family Welfare Minister informed that the Government has already taken all the necessary steps to combat dengue in the current monsoon season. He stated that the ministry has issued total ten advisories to the state governments for prevention and control of dengue. “Also the ministry already held eight review meetings including two video conferences to sensitize the states,” said Nadda in the meeting.
While taking stock of the situation, Nadda was also briefed on the ongoing preparations of the Health Ministry. The Health Minister was informed that to augment the diagnostic facilities for dengue, the number of Sentinel Surveillance Hospitals (SSHs) has been increased to 527 till date and all these are linked with 15 Apex Referral Laboratories with advanced diagnostic facilities. ELISA based IgM test kits are also being supplied by the government through National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The Health Minister also reviewed the awareness activities of the ministry and said that there is an urgent need to further enhance these activities for spreading extensive awareness regarding dengue in the country.
During the meeting, the Health Minister also directed the officers to conduct supervisory visits to various hospitals in Delhi for assessing the situation and the overall preparedness to provide on the spot technical guidance to the health authorities. The Minister also directed the concerned department to organize meeting through video conferencing with all the state health ministers to review the situation. The minister also announced to hold meetings with the Delhi Municipal Corporation and New Delhi Municipal Corporation to review the situation in Delhi.
B P Sharma, Secretary (Health), B D Athani, Special DGHS, and other senior officers of the ministry were also present in the meeting.
According to Dr A K Agarwal, Medical Advisor, Apollo Hospital, New Delhi and Professor of Excellence, “The sudden outbreak of dengue has always created a scary situation in the national Capital and elsewhere. Although, the fear from this dreaded disease is natural, but rather than worrying, we should concentrate on exploring the ways to prevent the outburst of dengue. For this, it is important that we fully understand how dengue is spread.
Dr Agarwal said, “To control the growing incidence of dengue, the Central government had already launched a mobile application ‘India Fights Dengue” last year. This year as well the application will come handy in fighting against the dengue as well as various the other Vector Borne Diseases, especially the fight against Dengue, can be won only with effective community participation and in this process, this App is highly useful as it empowers the community members with the knowledge on how to contribute towards the prevention of dengue.”
Dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease has become a major health concern today, however with a complete action plan it can easily be prevented from spreading and its cure is also possible. We must also avoid getting panicky and instead arm ourselves with adequate knowledge of its prevention as well as its treatment.
Considering the chances of the spread of dengue cases, the government machinery has once again been forced to get into an emergency mode to prevent the situation from going out of control.
As the scare over the deadly fever can also grow in other parts of the country as well the Centre and the states need to put in collective efforts to tide over the crisis. Delhi/NCR has already witnessed the worst outbreak of dengue five year back when the death toll crossed the double digit figure and the number of deadly flu cases surpassed the 2000 figure. Gradually, the situation started getting out of control and the disease might have turned into an epidemic, if the concerned authorities as well as the other people had not pulled their acts together.

Prevention and cure
Dengue or dengee is a mosquito borne disease transmitted via an infected female Aedes Aegypti mosquito. When this infected mosquito bites a person, the dengue virus gets spread in the blood, leading to high fever. Dengue mosquito generally bites below the elbow or knee area during the day time.
Aedes mosquito breeds in clean water. As prevention is better than cure, so, it is very important that one should ensure that no water gets collected in the nearby surroundings, so that the breeding of mosquitos can be prevented. For this purpose, it is advisable to always put one tablespoon full of petrol wherever water is standing so that breeding of mosquitoes can be stopped due to lack of oxygen supply Also in order to prevent mosquito bite use mosquito repellent creams and wear full sleeves clothes.
Bone breaking fever, severe joint and muscle pain or complete body pain are some of the symptoms one should watch for. If you notice any of these indications then immediately consult a doctor. Besides this, pain behind the eyes, headache, sore throat, mild skin rash followed by the feeling of vomiting and nausea are some of the other symptoms of dengue fever.
A person suffering from dengue fever also loses appetite due to high fever. In extreme cases, gall bladder inflammation or liver inflammation, abdominal pain, black stools and minor bleeding from skin, nose and mouth may also occur, which should be seen as medical emergency.
To identify dengue, correct diagnosis is most important. Once the symptoms are identified, immediately go for a dengue NS1 antigen test, viral isolation in culture (whose result appears after 6-10 days of infection), detection of viral RNA by PCR technique and specific IgM/IgG antibodies in paired sera (whose result appears after 5-7 days of infection). Depending upon the reports, the doctor may decide on further course of treatment, or regarding the patient’s hospitalization.
In most dengue cases, the infection is mild, but sometimes the infection becomes severe resulting in dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and the blood platelet count becomes extremely low. Moreover, the patient also experiences, bleeding from nose, mouth or gums (caused by leakage in blood vessels) along with bruises on the body. In such cases immediate treatment is necessary as any delay in treatment may lead to collapse of blood vessels, or death.
After being diagnosed with dengue, people run for platelet transfusion, but instead of this proper hydration of the body should be given more importance. Drink lots of water (5liters a day), or take coconut water or lemonade. Post dengue, the patient loses body immunity and thus, becomes more susceptible to other ailments. So, it is also very important to have a well-balanced, diet rich in minerals, protein and vitamins. Paracetamol can be taken for bringing fever down. But, avoid taking any kind of painkillers as they can cause extensive bleeding (which can reduce the blood count even further) and damage the kidneys.