Pune sees spurt in dengue cases

More than 108 cases of dengue were reported to the civic body till September 22 from both private and public hospitals. As compared to August when 31cases of the vector-borne disease were reported, there is a a sharp increase in the cases.

Pune Municipal Corporation’s acting chief medical officer, Dr ST Pardeshi said a total of 170 cases of dengue were reported from private and public hospitals since January this year, of which 139 cases were reported since August.

However, he cautioned that the number includes cases reported from private hospitals and laboratories and the official figure reported may be lesser.

“Since June, we are collecting data from private hospitals as against earlier practice where we collected data only from our hospitals and only tested those patients referred to us. Due to this
pro-active approach, the number of reported dengue cases have increased,” he said.

In fact, Pardeshi said not all hospitals were reporting cases and urged them to report cases so that exact prevalence of the disease could be known.

However, civic body’s insect control department says it officially has recorded just 10 suspected cases this month. Assistant medical officer. Dr Vaishali Jadhav said, “If a suspected case is reported to us, we send the samples to National Institute of Virology or BJ Medical College. Once they confirm and if the person resides within PMC limits, we count it as a dengue case. Hence, if a person tests positive in a private hospital laboratory or if he resides in an area outside PMC limits, we don’t count that as dengue case in our limits,” said Jadhav.

However, she was quick to add that despite the suspected status of patients, fogging activity and other precautions were taken at each of these patients’ residence.

Meanwhile, family physicians agreed that cases of suspected dengue patients had increased and warned people to be alert.
Shivajinagar-based Dr Avinash Bhondwe has seen at least eight patients of non-hemorrhagic dengue fever this month. “Cases have increased since last 2-3 weeks. People need to be aware of the symptoms that include high grade fever, body ache, faint rashes, chills, dehydration and nausea. If left untreated, it can affect vital organs,” he advised.

Pardeshi said while fogging activity was taking place in mosquito-breeding spots, the mosquito that spreads dengue breeds in fresh water found in homes. “It is important for people to ensure there is no uncovered stagnant water in the house. Check areas near plants, behind fridges, in kitchens and near washing areas,” he added.