How Tamil Nadu is fighting dengue

Arundhati's teachers and friends said she was one of the smartest kids in school.

But tragedy struck on Monday, when the 12-year-old died from dengue in Coimbatore's Dharapuram. The sight of the young girl's parents crying over her dead body has shaken the state of Tamil Nadu, where as many as 40 people have been killed by the mosquito-borne disease this year. 80 have died due to co-morbidity.

And those are just the official figures. Opposition parties claim that up to 400 people have died.

Now, the state's health secretary has asked the public to join the battle against the disease.

CHECKING MOSQUITO BREEDING

"The dengue mosquito only requires 2mm depth of water to breed. In our state, the main cause for the spread (of the disease) is the availability of open water sources. In small houses, it's the blue drums, and in apartments, it would be the Syntex tanks which are left half open", Health Secretary Radhakrishnan said.

Radhakrishnan said any place where water is allowed to stagnate must be checked for mosquito breeding.

The government has even issued notices to shop-owners whose premises contain mosquito breeding sites, and has warned them that they will be fined.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

Tamil Nadu's Health Department says that with 1 lakh doctors - including 20,000 employed by the government - the state is well-equipped to handle the spread of dengue. 125 ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test centres are working around the clock.

Almost all the ministers in the Tamil Nadu cabinet have recommended the use of 'nilavembu kashayam' (a soup made of papaya leaves), a drink which is said to boost immunity, but whose efficacy has not been established by research. But test results in the lab have apparently been good.

The Health Department has asked people to participate in a source eradication programme, and keep their surroundings clean.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE PUBLIC

Residents of rural regions constantly complain of a lack of staff. In the absence of doctors, nurses in public hospitals are unable to prescribe medicines. Worried relatives take patients to private healthcare facilities instead.

A lack of awareness is another important challenge. Many still believe that only mosquitoes that bite at night are dangerous, and take fewer precautions during the day.

With the monsoon just a week away, the worst may be yet to come. Tamil Nadu will have to plan for the twin challenge of fighting natural calamities and epidemics.

STATISTICS

Dengue in Tamil Nadu peaked in 2012, when cases numbered 13,204 and then again this year, when 11,744 (Until October 9th) cases were reported. The years between 2013 to 2016 had only an average of 4,500 dengue cases reported.

For 2017, Chennai stands with reported 1819 fever reported patients of which 507 admitted to the hospital. The maximum cases were reported in Madurai so far, going upto 1268 with 129 being treated for Dengue.

CAUSE OF DEATH

The main reason for the death caused by dengue is attribute to dengue shock syndrome. The syndrome affects generally children under 10 years old or elders with weak immunity.

The syndrome causes abdominal pain, bleeding and shock due to collapse of blood circulation and finally to Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever.

It has all the symptoms of a normal fever but within 2 to 6 days, the symptoms turn severe accompanied by blood in stool, bleeding gums and circumoral cyanosis. Apparently, after the patients get treated for a few days for fever, a dip stage occurs where the symptoms recede reacting to the medicine but as no monitoring of platelets counts are generally done, DHF occurs leading to death.

However, the state's Health department has once again asked the people to avoid over the counter medicines and visit, preferably a government hospital if any fever persists for more than 4 days.