HT Correspondent
DIBRUGARH, July 9: Dibrugarh district has witnessed a huge decline in vector-borne diseases in the last three years. Notably, the National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP) has ramped up measures to control the six vector-borne diseases in the district. Dibrugarh recorded only a single case of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and 4 cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) between January 1 to July 9, 2021. One person with AES succumbed to the disease during this period.
There has been a significant drop in JE and AES cases in Dibrugarh district compared to the past two years. In 2019, the Dibrugarh district had recorded 33 JE cases and 285 AES cases. Additionally, there were 11 JE deaths and 31 AES deaths that year. The numbers of cases came down in 2020 with 13 JE cases and 29 AES cases being reported from the district. There were also 2 JE deaths and 5 AES deaths last year.
Siddhartha Saikia, district consultant of the Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) said, “Due to the sincere efforts of the health department the cases have been coming down in Dibrugarh district. There has been a huge decline in the number of JE and AES cases in Dibrugarh district this year. The months of June, July, and August are usually the peak period for the disease. We have so far detected 1 JE case and 4 AES cases in the district and we are quite hopeful that the total cases will be quite negligible this year. The efforts of the health department have borne fruits in tackling the dreaded disease.”
He further went on to add, “So far we have conducted 2,452 door-to-door visits to create awareness. Moreover, we have distributed 25,217 medicated mosquito nets among the people. Fogging is being done in the rural pockets as well as in the urban vulnerable pockets of Dibrugarh town like Paltanbazar, Dibrujan