Fresh cases of dengue in Dimapur are being reported although the number of cases are not as high as during the peak periods of July-August-September.
In the last week of September, a hospital recorded as many as 17 dengue positive cases in one day. Hospital sources told this Reporter that the dengue positive were sent to District Hospital Dimapur for confirmatory tests since some dengue positive reports often turn out to be false positive.
Since several weeks, Dimapur has experienced acute shortage of blood for platelet transfusion owing to high demand. Blood donors have to go to district hospital Dimapur and the donated blood is again separated for platelets.
Family members of a dengue patient needing transfusion, told this Reporter that blood was not available on Tuesday at the district hospital Dimapur. What has also irked many is that in the face of rising dengue cases and several deaths, the authorities were more concerned over the use of the term ‘epidemic’ instead taking cognisance of the number of dengue patients being turned away from hospitals due to lack of beds.
Some doctors admitted that this time dengue outbreak caught most of them by surprise. Some opined that the state government should have issued a ‘Dengue Alert’ to combat the spread and provide subsidised treatment, especially to the poorer sections.
Dengue this time has shown rapid spread suspected to be due to replication of the dengue virus within mosquitoes, leading to higher viral loads and a greater potential for transmission to humans.