Leptospirosis continued to show a rising trend in the State on Tuesday, even as the Health Department said it had strengthened activities in the field and upped the awareness campaign to encourage people to consume the drug doxycycline as post-prophylactic.
After the number of cases increased, drug compliance seems to be improving, officials said.
On Tuesday, according to the department’s official data, 141 suspected cases of leptospirosis and 115 confirmed cases were reported. Four suspected leptospirosis deaths were reported, one each from Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Malappuram. One confirmed leptospirosis death was also reported from Malappuram.
Kozhikode reported 30 confirmed and 14 suspected cases; Malappuram, 27 confirmed and 29 suspected cases; Ernakulam reported 26; and Thrissur reported 15 confirmed cases on Tuesday.
Between August 15 and September 3, the State has reported 638 suspected cases and 267 confirmed cases of leptospirosis. Only 11 deaths have been confirmed so far as due to leptospirosis, while another 42 have been reported as suspected leptospirosis deaths.
Officials said that case reporting by the private sector had improved, which was being reflected in the daily reports. However, there are still concerns that the actual number of cases from the field is not getting into the official data.
The Health Department maintains that given the fact that nearly 25 lakh people have experienced the flood, the number of cases should have been much more. Which meant that a significant proportion of the affected population did consume the drug and did not develop the disease
“It is a reality that people have not been consuming doxycycline, despite being supplied the drug. There are reports from the field that in a five-member family, the only person who contracted leptospirosis — and died — was the one who did not consume the drug,” an official said.
Doxycycline supply
Health officials claimed that while there may be some gaps in supply at the grassroots, all government health-care institutions had adequate stocks of doxycycline.
Some 70 lakh tablets had been received by the State, more stocks would arrive this week.