Mandaviya directs states, UTs to implement dengue prevention protocols

New Delhi: Amid rising cases of dengue across the country, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the situation and public health preparedness. He directed states and union territories to to adhere to the guidelines issued by the Centre for prevention and control of vector borne diseases.

India has recorded over 95,000 dengue cases and 91 related deaths so far this year.

Mandaviya directed the officials strengthen prevention, containment and management measures for dengue.

The minister highlighted that the Union government has provided states with screening kits and financial support for fogging and IEC activities. Healthcare workers have also been trained.

Mandaviya said that adequate fund has been deployed by the central government to states under the Program Implementation Plan (PIP) for surveillance, case management, laboratory diagnosis, procurement of ELISA based NS1 antigen test kits for early diagnosis of cases.

Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Northeastern States, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat have been particularly hit.

Dengue virus has four different strains — DENV-1 that causes classic dengue fever, DENV-2 that results in hemorrhagic fever with shock, DENV-3 that causes fever without shock, and DENV-4 that leads to fever without shock or profound shock. Scientists say that DENV-2 is circulating this year which is more virulent in nature.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue virus was identified as one of the top 10 global health threats in 2019. An estimated 100-400 million infections are reported every year with over 80% generally mild and asymptomatic in nature.

Scientists at the Indian Council of Medical Sciences (ICMR) are working to develop India’s first dengue vaccine in collaboration with two pharmaceutical companies. As of now, only symptomatic treatment is given to those infected.