Centre says majority of deaths in UP’s Firozabad due to dengue, suggests actions

The central government has suggested some actions to handle dengue outbreak situation in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district, which has so far recorded over 50 deaths due to the disease and viral fever.

A central team comprising officials from National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) were sent to Firozabad to investigate the cause of fever outbreak and deaths among children.

In a letter to the UP chief secretary, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the central team has found that majority of cases of viral fever and deaths among children in Firozabad were due to dengue, a few cases were of scrub typhus and leptospirosis.

“The central team has observed that the majority of cases are due to dengue, while a few are because of Scrub Typhus and Leptospirosis,” Bhushan said in the letter. He also stated that Vector Indices were also found to be high with House Index and Container Index, both above 50% in Firozabad district.

He suggested a number of follow-up measures to contain the disease.

– All fever patients to be screened for dengue, malaria, scrub typhus and leptospirosis

– Need to strengthen ELISA based testing facilities.

– Activities related to fever survey, vector control and fever camps to continue as per micro plan submitted by the central team.

– Surveillance to be strengthened with implementation of IHIP in the district in coordination with CSU IDSP, NCDC.

– Entomological activities to be strengthened and continued as per standard guidelines.

– Isolation beds and admission facilities in District Hospital of Firozabad and neighboring districts to be augmented.

– Organise a short reorientation of all doctors at PHC, CHC and district hospital cum medical college of Firozabad and neighbouring districts on recent guidelines for management of dengue, scrub typhus and leptospirosis.

“Services of experts on infectious diseases from KGMU and similar institutions may be utilized for this purpose”.