Anti-dengue measures up in two districts

The Sivaganga district administration has launched a massive awareness campaign and intensive preventive measures against dengue fever after three people were tested positive for the dreaded disease, even as Ramanathapuram district administration sensitised the officials on preventive measures.

Sivaganga Collector S. Malarvizhi said three people, including two women from Idyamelur village, tested positive for the fever and all the three have recovered after they were treated at Government Medical College Hospital in the district headquarters.

In case of two patients — Amudha (36) and Anbarasu (32) — the tests carried out on Monday revealed that they had healthy 1.32 lakh blood platelet counts and they could be discharged at any time, the Collector said. For the other patient, Perumathal, a middle-aged woman, the blood test revealed that she had 57,000 platelets counts and she would be under observation for a few more days, she said. After they became normal, Amudha and Anbarasu ran away from the hospital few days ago, but they were brought back and treated, she said.

A separate dengue ward was established at the hospital for treating the patients, she added.

Though the district figured in the list of least dengue-affected districts, the administration had launched a massive awareness campaign, distributing pamphlets and alerting the people through public address system in auto-rickshaws, Ms. Malarvizhi said.

Health workers and members of Magalir Thittam and Pudhu Vazhvu Thittam were pressed into service on preventive measures to reduce the risk of dengue infection, she said.

In Ramanathapuram, Collector S. Natarajan, while addressing a meeting here on Monday, asked the officials and heads of various departments to be in a state of alertness to manage disasters and meet any eventuality after the onset of northeast monsoon in October.

The Collector also cautioned the officials, especially those in the Public Health Department on the possible outbreak of dengue and other virus-infected diseases during the rainy season and asked them to take all preventive measures. He said no dengue positive case was reported in the district so far.