Tackling dengue: Mosquito nets in Kolkata hospitals to check cross infection

KOLKATA: The health department has decided to promote the use of mosquito nets for dengue patients at hospitals to prevent cross infection. Use of advanced Dengue non-specific (NS) Elisa kits for faster detection of the infection will also be encouraged. “We want all hospitals to start using mosquito nets for dengue positive patients to prevent chances of cross infection to other immuno-compromise patients admitted to the same wards, since presence of vector carrying Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes cannot be ruled out,” said a senior health department official. “We are not sending out an order in this respect, rather we are suggesting that every hospital should start using mosquito nets with a rise in number of dengue cases. The hospital authorities should be extra careful as September is supposed to be the peak season for dengue,” added a senior health department official. Senior virologists have also appreciated the step and pointed out that keeping the dengue patients inside mosquito nets for the first four days is a proper preventive step. “We have informed nursing staffers to give mosquito nets to patients who are dengue positive suspects and admitted to the hospital with other patients, who are immunologically weak,” said Partha Pratim Pradhan , medical superintendent-cum-vice principal of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMC&H). CNMC&H authorities have decided to have two specific wards with 10 male patients and 11 female patients. All the patients admitted will be asked to use mosquito nets round the clock and authorities hope that it will help check the infection. Similarly, SSKM Hospital authorities have informed that they are planning to distribute mosquito nets to the patients soon. “We are planning to distribute mosquito nets shortly,” said Tamal Ghosh, medical superintendent-cum-vice principal of SSKM Hospital. Some medical college authorities said that the idea is not practical, as in most cases the patients are admitted after five days when a person becomes non-infectious to a mosquito bite. Meanwhile, health department has finally decided to use advanced non specific (NS)-1 Elisa Antigen kit for faster detection of dengue virus as it won’t depend on the Mac Elisa test anymore. “We generally use NS-1 rapid tests to primarily isolate probable positive cases from normal viral fever. The new NS-1 Elisa test is 90% specific and sensitive within first two days of the fever,” said a senior official of Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine (CSTM). “Centre has cleared the use of NS-1 Elisa kits and now the government has decided to purchase such kits as fast as possible. The kits, which will be available at state-run testing laboratories, will help detect dengue cases fast,” said Asit Biswas, spokesperson for state health department. National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases authorities have been assigned to standardize and test the kits.