Spread awareness to swat dengue sting: experts to govt

Hyderabad: With increasing dengue cases in the State, health experts want the government to spread awareness on precautions to be taken by the masses; they say it is not difficult to prevent the disease.

Dengue cases have been reported since the last week of May; the number has touched more than 200 during July. There have been some cases in the city, but mostly in double digits. The experts say authorities, especially the civic officials, should stress on the need for residents to take cleanliness measures.

Senior pediatrician Dr M Karuna said it was not at all difficult to prevent dengue. “We have been neglecting it for 17 years. There is no national/ State programme; no plotting of initial cases area wise and alerting people based on that. How many families which were affected till now knew they had to remove waterlogging? Tackling larvae is easier than fogging for adult mosquitoes,” said Dr Karuna.

In the past the State government had started fogging for 10 minutes at 10 am every Sunday to be taken up in every household in the municipalities by involving the public representatives in the urban local bodies. However, the programme is yet to be promoted this year. There were more than 13,000 dengue cases in Telangana during 2022 . Hence the experts want the government to take action before the number increases. According to experts, about five per cent of cases would have severe features; one per cent with life risk, stressing on the need for massive awareness on the problem. The doctors said families should be taught about removing water-logging in and around their houses weekly once.

Personal protection from mosquito bites and wearing full clothing, using mosquito nets, mosquito bats, creams should be promoted, said general physician Dr G Vinod. He said there have been some fever cases among the patients; a couple of cases with symptoms of dengue fever. The patients were informed about the precautions and the treatment to be taken, he said.