BERHAMPUR/DHENKANAL:THE dengue sting has taken more persons in its grip with six testing positive for the fever in Ganjam district and one in Dhenkanal district.
In Ganjam district, six persons have tested positive for dengue during the last 24 hours. They have been admitted in special dengue ward at MKCGMCH.
Superintendent of the medical college Prof Ashok Kumar Behera said, these are the first dengue cases this year. While one of the affected has been identified as a Class IV employee of MKCGMCH staying at Gobinda Nagar, on the outskirts of the city, another belongs to Bank Colony and works for an NGO at Keonjhar. The third patient belongs to Balipadar near Aska and was working at Barbil, two others are from Lochapada on the outskirts of the city and Dura village in the district. On Wednesday evening, a forest officer and resident of Gajapati Nagar in the city also tested positive for the vector-borne disease.
Meanwhile, in view of the rising number of dengue cases, a sub-division level sensitisation meeting was held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Berhampur Sub Collector Lakshmikant Sethy and attended by ADMOs Dr SK Mishra and Dr RJ Patnaik, Health officer of BeMC Dr Subhakant Dash and Prof Uma Mishra of medicine department of MKCGMCH. Two CDMOs and District Malaria officer did not attend the meeting.
The ADMO said, people are being educated on the methods to prevent breeding of mosquitoes.
Awareness drives have been started in rural areas under the supervision of BDOs concerned, said the Sub Collector adding 100 beds has been kept ready in three wards at MKCGMCH and similar arrangements would be made for City Hospital.
In Dhenkanal, one out of 22 suspected patients tested positive for the fever. He is working as a driver in Jagatpur of Cuttack district and a resident of Gondia block in Dhenkanal district.
Sources said, he started suffering from fever at his workplace and returned home with it. He was admitted in District Headquarters Hospital (DHH).
District Malaria Officer Dr Basudev Behera said, measures have been taken to sensitise people about the disease through interaction activities in different villages.
ADMO (Medical) Dr Sujarani Mishra said, we have infrastructure and facilities in district headquarters for detection of dengue and its treatment.