Sri Lanka News | Online edition of Daily News

More than half of blood samples test positive for dengue

Nadira Gunatilleke

The Medical Research Institute (MRI) of the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has tested 2,906 blood samples for Dengue during last five months and found 1,667 of them were Dengue positive, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said apart from those general blood tests, the MRI has also conducted 45 special medical tests to confirm the Dengue virus and 13 of such tests had confirmed that the virus was Dengue.

The MRI continues the research and medical tests to find out whether there is any change in the Dengue virus.

The number of patients died from dengue fever has gone up to 145 and the number of affected persons had been recorded as 11,190. The most affected districts are Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy, Kegalle and Kurunegala. According to the latest statistics of the Epidemiology Unit, 1,684 dengue patients and 14 deaths have been reported from Colombo district so far.

The number of dengue patients reported from Colombo district during last month was 522.

There are 422 dengue cases reported from the Colombo district during this month up to 22, he said.

Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has issued notices to 283 persons in 12 MOH areas in Colombo so far and checked 23,100 homes. Mosquito breeding sites were found in 6,138 homes. They have already been warned, he added.

Meanwhile the WHO has informed the media to use Novel Influenza (A)H1N1 to name the Influenza virus spreading in the world these days. Many media use the name `Swine flu’ for the disease but it has nothing to do with pigs.

The virus spread from man to man and therefore it should be called as (A)H1N1.

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is seeking the assistance of 19 police stations in the city to curb the dengue menace as some of the Public Health Inspectors who had gone to inspect premises had been threatened by certain residents, Commissioner Badrani Jayawardana told the Daily News yesterday.

Already 58 people have been prosecuted for keeping stagnant water in their premises, breeding grounds for mosquitoes and 50,000 houses were checked and many awareness programs conducted to keep the city clean but the mosquito menace is still not under control, she said.

Campaigns were carried out even during the weekends, from the beginning of the year with shramadana programs. The Civil Defence Force also took part.

Cleaning of drains with the participation of prisoners and CMC workers were carried out to eradicate the mosquito menace but the problem has still been not completely resolved, she said. “There were eight deaths in the city limits while 560 dengue cases were reported this year.

“But when comparing these figures with the 2004 figures, the number of patients reported in June 2004 was 300 but this year it was only 160 patients,” CMC Medical Health Officer Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam said.

“Cleaning premises and dumping garbage near the road side would not solve the problem.

“Even a tea spoon full of water is enough for the dengue mosquito to breed. But the conservative attitude of some residents and even officials prevented the eradication program becoming successful,” he said.

Dengue eradication: PHIs seek police protection