First dengue case in Tripura

Agartala, Aug 6 (IANS) The first confirmed case of dengue has been reported in Tripura, an official said here Wednesday.

“A man was found with dengue virus at the G.B. Pant Medical College and Hospital here. This is the first case of dengue in Tripura,” health department spokesperson Pranab Chatterjee told IANS.

He said the state government has alerted doctors, health workers and people about the spread of dengue, encephalitis and other vector-borne and water-borne diseases.

Also, Chatterjee said that since June 13, 78 people, including 58 children, have died and over 258,600 have fallen ill. Out of these, the malaria infection was found in over 44,570 people.

He said the disease was “more or less controlled” in the state.

On an average, over 124 special health camps were being organised daily in malaria-hit areas for people who have not been admitted to hospitals.

Experts from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an independent international medical humanitarian organisation, and National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), under union health and family welfare ministry, have visited the disease-affected areas.

Cases of malaria and fever have been reported from hilly areas of five districts – Dhalai, Gomti, Khowai, North Tripura and South Tripura.

All the northeastern states besides West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka are malaria-prone.

Over a 100 people die every year from the disease in the seven northeastern states, excluding Sikkim.

According to NVBDCP, malaria claimed 1,018 lives in 2010 in India, 754 in 2011, 519 in 2012 and 440 in 2013.