ICMR dengue survey in four districts for vaccine analysis

BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is all set to carry out a survey in four districts of the State as part of its Nation-wide exercise to map dengue so that a vaccination programme can be introduced.Apart from Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and two states in North East are also part of the survey which will kick off from third week of this month. The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, has already selected Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Sambalpur and Sonepur for the survey on a random sampling basis.

Sources said, RMRC, an arm of ICMR, will take up two villages and two urban wards in each of the four selected districts to map the dengue load. “The objective is to survey dengue load in these districts and understand how exposed the population is to the vector-borne disease so that the vaccination can be considered basing on the analysis,” sources said.

Ideally, if a 70 per cent population is exposed to the disease, it is believed to have developed antibody which makes it an ideal condition for introduction of vaccination.Vaccine for dengue, though, available has not been introduced in the country as yet and this is a first such exercise where ICMR will make an analysis of the ground conditions after getting the data from labs. The vaccine is indigenously developed.
Of the four districts which have been selected by RMRC, Bhadrak has reported 327 positive cases with one death this year. Sonepur, Sambalpur and Nayagarh have recorded below 20 cases each.

As on October 6, as many as 2,256 dengue positive cases and five deaths were recorded in the State. Last year, the State had reported a whopping 8,380 cases and 11 deaths which means the incidence has so far shown a 50 per cent drop.

Mapping the sting
● Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and two states in North East also part of the survey
● RMRC has already selected Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Sambalpur and Sonepur for the survey on a random sampling basis
● Bhadrak has reported 327 positive cases with one death this year. Sonepur, Sambalpur and Nayagarh have recorded below 20 cases each