The number of dengue cases being reported from parts of Uttar Pradesh is on the rise and it is adding to the burden of the state's health department, which has now managed to keep the COVID-19 situation in the state under check.
As of Friday, at least 16 confirmed cases of dengue have been found in Agra, said Agra's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Arun Kumar Srivastava.
On Thursday, 11 cases of dengue have been reported from Lucknow in the past 24 hours, which is the highest count in a single day so far.
The Health Department teams found larvae of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that is carrier of dengue virus, at 37 houses in Faizullaganj and Malihabad localities.
Larvae were also found in a mall in Vikas Nagar.?
But the biggest concern in the state so far has been Firozabad district, where according to official figures, 57 people, mostly children have died of the illness.
404 people are still undergoing treatment in the medical college hospital.
¡°As many as 120 new patients were admitted on Friday while 102 people were discharged after recovery,¡± medical college principal Sangeeta Aneja said, adding that of the 195 tests done for dengue, 62 have been found positive.
According to the ICMR, the D2 strain of dengue is behind the high number of cases and fatlities there.
Majority of the deaths in Mathura, Agra and Firozabad districts were due to dengue fever caused by D2 strain and it can cause haemorrhaging that could be fatal, ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said.
"Deaths in Mathura, Agra and Firozabad are due to dengue fever caused by D2 strain, which can cause haemorrhaging that could be fatal," Dr Bhargava said.
According to experts, dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2 or D2) is known to be the most virulent strain and can cause severity in disease.
Recently a central team visited Firozabad district and observed that the majority of cases are due to dengue, while a few are because of scrub typhus and leptospirosis.
Vector Indices were found to be high with House Index and Container Index, both above 50 per cent.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has deputed two EIS (Epidemic Intelligence Service) officers in the district for the next 14 days and they will assist the administration in strengthening its outbreak response.
Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog urged people to take protective measures against vector-borne diseases and noted that dengue can lead to complications and death.
"Protect yourself from vector-borne diseases by using mosquito nets, mosquito repellents, covering yourself to avoid mosquito bites, because dengue can lead to death. We don't have even a vaccine for dengue, so it's important to take dengue as a serious disease it leads to complications, Malaria also has ill effects. We have to fight against the disease," Dr Paul said.
On Thursday, the Yogi Adityanath government sent a second team of health experts to Firozabad within a week, to identify the dengue variant causing the outbreak which appears to be more dangerous for children.
The three-member team from Lucknow's King George Medical University (KGMU), led by senior paediatrician Dr S.N. Singh has started investigating the cases.
The team will also guide local doctors on how to control the spread of the disease and plan treatment protocols.
The government said it is taking all the possible steps to control the outbreak of viral fever in the state.
Speaking to ANI, Singh said that door to door surveys will now be conducted to understand the problem in detail.
"We are taking all the possible steps to control the outbreak of viral fever in the state. Door to door surveys will be conducted and medicines will also be provided to the children," he said.
The minister informed that the government has noticed the loopholes in the working of the officials and that's the main reason for the viral outbreak in the city.
Earlier this week, the government had launched a state-wide surveillance drive, under which the health officials will be going door-to-door and identify people with viral fever, Covid symptoms, and other diseases arising out of the seasonal vagaries.