The outbreak of dengue fever in Cuttack city is beginning to show signs of abatement after affecting more than 414 persons and claiming one life within the last one month.
The inflow of patients and serum positivity rate in the city is gradually coming down as also the number of patients admitted to special dengue ward at the SCB Medical.
From a high of 130 about three days ago, the number of patients in the ward reduced to 55 on Monday along with four being treated in the ICU. Of this, 24 are from Cuttack city.
“We are witnessing a drop in positive cases from the city over the last couple of days. The city’s share of around 90 per cent in dengue positive cases has slipped to 40 per cent now. The inflow of patients has also reduced significantly, which is a positive sign,” emergency medical officer of SCBMCH, Dr B M Moharana, said.
The improvement in the situation is being attributed to the intense cleanliness operations and awareness campaign launched by the administration to tackle the outbreak, which is the most severe the city has witnessed. The massive exercise underway in the most affected two wards of 21 and 23 along with other parts for source elimination as well as prevention has begun to bear results.
Apart from house-to-house visits and inspections, the administration has been conducting health camps in the worst affected pockets to detect febrile people, who have not tested for dengue nor reported to any medical personnel for treatment.
Six camps have been conduct till Monday and as many as 514 people were examined. Around 41 of them were found to be suffering from fever and were immediately channelised to the hospital for blood tests and consequent treatment. ASHA workers have been deployed to visit the household not only for educating the members and destroying potential breeding sites, but also detecting febrile people and reporting them for medical attention.
“Though the signs are positive, there will not be any lowering of guard. The interventions and campaigns will be pushed as aggressively as the battle is not over”, Collector Girish S N said.
The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) also conducted a blood donation camp for increasing stocks in the blood banks to meet the increased requirement of platelets and components among the patients. About 100 units of blood were collected.