Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Jun 20: In addition to the widely prevalent viral fever, suspected dengue cases are increasingly being reported from the rural belts of the taluk. While the doctors have been insisting that several cases referred to them have not yet been established as dengue and have advised people not to unduly worry about the spread of this fever, people continue to be apprehensive.

Sources said, eight from Puttur hospitals and 15 who were being treated at Uppinangady hospital are suffering from suspected dengue. Out of them, eight cases have already been confirmed as dengue. All the patients are recovering.

Locals suspect, that Jacinta Rebello (42) from Nekkiladi village in the taluk, who breathed her last in a hospital in Mangalore on Friday June 19 because of fever, had died of dengue. After suffering from fever, she had initially been admitted into Puttur hospital before being shifted to Mangalore. District health officer Dr Jagannath said, the cause of her death can be confirmed only after the receipt of blood test report.

There had been only one doctor at Uppinangady government hospital in the past. Recently, the district health department has appointed another doctor on contract basis additionally. The people are not willing to fully rely on the repeated assertion of the health department that the fever now widely prevalent in Uppinangady and surrounding villages is not dengue, as the department has fumbled last year by failing to diagnose chikungunya during the last year.

Dr Jagannath, who visited Puttur on Friday June 19, left instructions with the health officials, the measures needed to be undertaken to stop the spread of the viral and dengue fever in their jurisdiction. He told the reporters that the blood tests in case of suspected dengue cases are being conducted in the laboratory of the department in Mangalore and additional tests wherever necessary, are being conducted at Bangalore.