SURVEILLANCE STEPPED UP AS CASES OF VIRAL FEVER RISE IN GZB

GHAZIABAD: Cases of viral fever and dengue are on the rise in Ghaziabad district with teams of the health department tracing 754 symptomatic cases, 324 fever cases and another 280 people with symptoms of cold during the special door-to-door survey that was launched on Tuesday.

According to officials of the health department, the district reported just five cases of dengue fever till September 3, which spiralled to 45 cases till Wednesday. Apart from these, there are 14 other people suffering from dengue who are natives of other regions but are taking treatment in the district. As per official data, the district also reported 14 cases of scrub typhus till Wednesday evening.

“The surveillance teams are conducting surveys and trying to trace people with symptoms. Further, the teams of the malaria department and the health department are conducting fogging and spraying anti-larvae in areas where water has accumulated,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer.

Cases of viral fever have also increased in the past one week. “On normal days, we have 15-20 cases of fever in our OPD. The daily average cases were 80-100 a week ago. Now, we are getting around 100-150 cases of viral fever on average. We are also observing that the recovery time in many cases has increased from 3-4 days to 6-7 days,” said Dr Sanjay Teotia, chief medical superintendent of Sanjay Nagar Combined District Hospital.

He added that since many patients suffering viral fever have shown reduced immunity, the doctors are giving them antibiotics. “Among the fever cases, we also have about 5-6 cases of dengue, typhoid and malaria. But none of the patients have tested positive for Covid-19 so far. Under the prevailing circumstances, we have come up with a dengue ward with 10 beds and 20 beds have been put up in the fever ward,” Dr Teotia added.

Officials of the malaria department said they have initiated round the clock testing for dengue and malaria. “The free 24x7 testing for dengue and malaria has been made available at our IDSP lab in the premises of the district MMG Hopsital. The testing and sampling is also available at our community health centres (CHCS). The medicines are available free of cost at our district hospitals, CHCS and primary healthcare centres,” said GK Mishra, district malaria officer.