BENGALURU: With cases on the rise in almost all urban areas, epidemiologists and medical experts suggest that the State government shift from index case-based contact tracing to house-to-house syndromic surveillance.
“It is a public health tool that will proactively survey communities for a group of symptoms, and not just Covid-defined symptoms like cold, cough, fever, breathlessness etc. The surveillance will look for added symptoms like loss of taste and smell, secondary symptoms like renal failure etc, and medically manage them like positive cases,” explained Dr Gururaj G, Dean of neurosciences and senior professor in the department of epidemiology at NIMHANS.
This has to be done in addition to measures like physical distancing, contact tracing, testing and aggressive treatment. Senior epidemiologists and health experts say this kind of surveillance is the need of the hour, especially with a surge in cases is urban areas.
“It is a natural progression of the pandemic, expected due to increased mobility and testing. At this stage, we must shift from focus on index case-based contact tracing to house-to-house syndromic surveillance twice a week. Strict contact tracing of positive cases and isolation of symptomatic cases will reduce transmission significantly,” Dr Giridhara Babu, senior epidemiologist and public health expert, said.
He suggested that the government start syndromic surveillance in affected areas and green zones. “It’s time to go beyond containment measures,” he explained.
A senior BBMP health official said the number of cases with no contacts traced clearly points to community spread, and this survey will detect the threat faster than traditional surveillance systems.
However, this also means that a lot more people need to work on the ground, explains bioethics researcher Anant Bhan. “This will be a good move as Karnataka is already identifying SARI, ILI cases. Looking for added symptoms like loss of taste and smell and skin issues could stop the spread,” he said.
Dr Giridhara Babu agreed, “Community participation is absolutely essential; it is time to involve NGOs and community-based organisations in strengthening surveillance, have community centres and hospitals.”
“Syndromic surveillance might help determine the true size, spread and tempo of an outbreak,” Bhan added.