Dengue, brain fever in Bellary

bellary: once more, the apathy of the district health administration and municipality has taken its toll. after cholera hit bellary recently, a case of dengue was reported in the district. the district hospital doctors recommended that the victim be taken to bangalore for further treatment. the case has created ripples among the medical fraternity as the disease has made a comeback in bellary district.it may be recalled that last year, one person succumbed to dengue in bellary. five months back, the victim had high temperature and was admitted to the district hospital for treatment. however, paediatrician dr sulochana had doubts about the fever and she recommended that the child be taken to bangalore. the child was then admitted in st john's medical college hospital. sources at the hospital said, the baby was suffering from dengue. this was confirmed by the virology department of national institute of virology. reacting to this report, the district administration said, it had instructed municipal authorities to declare cowl bazaar as a dengue-hit area. (the child who had dengue was from the housing board colony in cowl bazaar). just two weeks back, cowl bazaar area was declared as cholera-affected. all hotels were closed in the area so that the disease could be prevented from spreading. and now, brain fever (japanese encephalitis) with isolated symptoms of dengue fever has raised its ugly head here. the colony has become a breeding ground for pigs in the residential areas. ironically, the municipality has chosen to ignore reality and nothing has been done to clean up the area. municipal authorities never visit the area, residents of the colony said. since the maximun number of cases of brain fever have been reported from cowl bazaar, the authorities concerned must take action, they added. meanwhile, the number of brain fever cases have been on the rise what with a number of children being admitted to the pediatric ward in the district hospital. in the last four weeks, six children were admitted to hospital. recently, a five-year-old girl saleema banu from asundi village died when she was being treated for brain fever. however, the hospital authorities are yet to confirm that the death was due to brain fever. recently, gastroenteritis hit bellary district and many patients died due to the disease as no quality treatment was made available to them. sources said, 10 people died due to gastroenteritis. however, sources said, the figure might three times the actual number reported. now that people in the district have been compelled to combat another disease, authorities need to pull up their socks and wage a war against the disease.