Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Even as the floodwater has begun to recede in Varanasi, the long term effect of waterlogging is raising its ugly head as the city is now witnessing a dengue outbreak.

Although the official toll for the number of cases has not been informed by the district administration yet but as per the results of an ELISA test report conducted by the microbiology department of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on August 25, 21 out 30 patients who manifested Dengue-like symptoms tested positive for dengue. 

Meanwhile, at the Shri Shiv Prasad Gupta Mandliya Hospital, 74 confirmed patients of dengue are presently admitted while medical officers told Gaon Connection on the condition of anonymity that across the city, there are an estimated 300 dengue patients admitted in various hospitals.

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“I’ve lost my nephew to dengue, he was just 24-years-old. He breathed his last on August 24.  He was initially admitted to Mata Anandamayee Hospital but was later admitted to BHU (Sir Sunderlal Hospital) where he died,” Ramesh Mallah, a resident of Mallah Basti area told Gaon Connection about the death of his nephew Sumant Mallah who succumbed to dengue. 

However, an ELISA test was not conducted on him and his death is not recorded as a casualty due to dengue. 

Doctors getting infected too

Many of the medical students and doctors at the Sir Sunderlal Hospital in Banaras Hindu University have been infected with dengue and at least six of them are admitted in the hospital.

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Soni Kumari is a fourth-year  nursing student at the hospital and is presently admitted here in the medicine ward.

“I was earlier admitted to the emergency ward for six days and have now been shifted here. I was infected while I was on my duty in the hospital. A total of six students of nursing have been admitted here and we all got infected while at work,” she told Gaon Connection.

Not only nursing students but health workers from the dental department have also contracted dengue. At least 10 such medical staff is receiving treatment for the infection. The doctors have also written to the hospital administration to get rid of increasing mosquitoes in the faculties. 

Efforts underway to contain dengue outbreak

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister chaired a meeting in state capital Lucknow on August 29 and took cognisance of the dengue outbreak in Varanasi. He ordered officials to intensify efforts to control the outbreak. 

District Malaria Officer SC Pandey told Gaon Connection that a larva searching campaign has been launched across Varanasi. 

“Anti-larva fumigation has been ordered in the 728 localities. Also, 1,668 households have been sprayed with pyrethrum insecticide to get rid of any possible dengue mosquitoes and the sources of larvae have been destroyed in 50 households,”  Pandey said. 

“A total of  18 field workers from the health department in the urban areas and 21 such workers in the rural areas are working in fumigation exercises. Also, 84 workers from the municipal corporation and 22 from DUDA (district urban development authority) are spraying insecticides across the city,” he added.

Experts at BHU told Gaon Connection on the condition of anonymity that Varanasi is presently fa7cing the ‘first stage’ of dengue outbreak. “But as soon as the city enters the second and the third stages, shortage of platelets and injections is very much possible in the coming days,” a source said.

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Schools shut for a week in Firozabad

It’s not just Varanasi that’s witnessing a dengue outbreak. Firozabad district in western Uttar Pradesh, situated at a distance of 600 kilometres from Varanasi is also reporting an outbreak and classes upto standard eighth in all schools have been suspended in a bid to contain the outbreak.