No plan to track dengue, malaria

Post- Covid pandemic, a trend has emerged wherein every year, there is consistent rise in dengue infections across the State. Private healthcare establishments including clinics, nursing homes and corporate hospitals receive and treat a majority of dengue infections.

Hyderabad: The Health Department is yet to finalise a fool-proof surveillance and reporting system for dengue and malaria, even as the present weather conditions have become ideal for surge in vector- borne ailments in Hyderabad and other urban centres of Telangana.

Post- Covid pandemic, a trend has emerged wherein every year, there is consistent rise in dengue infections across the State. Private healthcare establishments including clinics, nursing homes and corporate hospitals receive and treat a majority of dengue infections.

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However, the health wing is yet to finalise the modalities to ensure private facilities share their dengue related data, which is vital for surveillance and to take up measures to contain mosquito breeding.

A fool-proof system to share data is also vital to regulate independent blood banks and those located within the premises of private hospitals, which tend to inflate the cost of blood components during the surge in dengue cases.

In the last one year or so, public health specialists and researchers tracking waterborne ailments have pointed out that since the Covid pandemic, the nature of dengue infections have changed.

In addition to the usual infection, dengue positive patients are also consistently suffering from drop in WBC count. As a result, a surge in demand for blood components to treat dengue positive infections is expected in the coming days, not only in Hyderabad but even in other urban centres of Telangana.

In fact, a year ago, researchers from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru had published a study ‘Evolutionary Dynamics of dengue virus in India’, in Plos Pathogens, suggesting the dengue virus has evolved dramatically in the Indian subcontinent. Experts believe the rise in instances of drop in WBC count among dengue positive cases has become frequent, which fuels its demand.