Rising dengue cases in Uttar Pradesh ahead of monsoon season raise an alarm!

Ahead of the monsoon season, rising dengue cases in Uttar Pradesh have raised an alarm for the state health department. Since this mosquito-borne viral disease spreads widely during the rainy season, the administration is ramping up its facilities to mitigate the risk of an outbreak.

As per officials, the state has already formed Rapid Response teams at the block level to curb the spread of the disease by using preventive measures.

Talking about the medical facility in the state, Vedvrata Singh, Director-General of Health department (UP) said, "There are 70 labs in the state with the facility of dengue testing at the moment and another 88 labs are being developed. Rapid Response (RR) teams have been formed at the block level that will take immediate action. Earlier such teams existed at the district level. At the same time, fever health desks have been established in every hospital."

As per the officials, the state is equipped with all the necessary healthcare infrastructure to combat any outbreak of this vector disease. However, experts advise people to take precautions and save themselves from contracting this disease as prevention is better than cure.

Vikas Singhal, Joint Director, Vector-Borne Diseases (VBD) explained how this viral disease takes a toll on people's health simply due to negligence. Generally, ignorant people do not take fever seriously which costs them in the case of dengue.

According to A.K. Singh, Director, Communicable Diseases, since there are no medicines or vaccines for dengue hence the only way to mitigate the risk of dengue infection is to simply save oneself from a mosquito bite.
In case of infection, patients can recover under medical supervision, explained the Director.

Mentioning the need to save oneself from dehydration during dengue infection, Singhal said, "If the fever persists, the patient should get tested for dengue. Upon diagnosis, a high fluid diet should be taken along with medicines."

While the government and nodal agencies can ensure proper medical facilities, schemes and initiatives to fight the spread of these diseases, it requires cooperation from people to succeed in this fight against vector-borne diseases.

-with inputs from IANS.