Mumbai : The state has reported 174 dengue cases and zero deaths in January this year, of which nearly 25 cases have been reported from Mumbai. The data was revealed by State Surveillance Officer, Dr Pradip Awate while speaking at the 17th Maharashtra Make Joint Conference at KEM hospital on Friday. Epidemiology experts emphasised on the challenges faced by the state to tackle dengue and the preventive strategies for controlling the rising menace of the disease.
Experts stated that 77 per cent outbreak of dengue was reported from Thane, Pune and Nashik division in 2015. They further explained that in order to control the deaths owing to dengue, they had laid guidelines for the blood banks and hospitals. Dr Minni Khetarpal, executive health officer of epidemiology cell at BMC said, “Though the cases have increased which is mainly because we have better diagnostic facilities but the data has shown that the deaths have decreased. We had instructed the blood banks to not administer dengue patients with platelets unless their count is 20,000 because over-transfusion of platelets was one of the factors of dengue-deaths.”
Health officials stated that migration and overcrowding in the cities are the major causes for dengue. “Complex urban and slum settings have led to the rise in dengue cases wherein there is water stored on terrace, plants and the aedes aegypti mosquito of dengue is able to breed in even a single drop of water. It is high time that all the sectors including private, public and corporations come together to strengthen the preventive measures for dengue. By 2020, we plan to reduce the morbidity 25percent and mortality by 50 per cent” added Awate.
