The Hindu : Front Page : “Symptoms point to dengue outbreak”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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“Symptoms point to dengue outbreak”

Shastry V. Mallady

Telephone numbers of officials to be given to village panchayat leaders

“Our suspicion is because of symptoms like haemorrhage”
We are waiting for test results: senior official

MADURAI: Health officials involved in initial assessment of a mysterious fever in two villages of Madurai district said that the symptoms point to a dengue outbreak.

Internal bleeding and haemorrhage suffered by two children who died last Monday are the reasons for suspecting dengue, a senior official in the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, told The Hindu on Friday. O. Alangulam and Periyalangulam, 20 km from here, are under the grip of fever coupled with blisters/mouth ulcers for the past three weeks as both children and adults are still undergoing treatment.

“It could be dengue and our suspicion is because of symptoms like haemorrhage. We are waiting for test results from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore,” the official said.

A few district health authorities also indicated that while there were dengue fever symptoms, there was no clarity about tongue blisters noticed among several children and adults.

In the aftermath of the outbreak, the Directorate of Public Health has decided to prepare a State-level ‘health directory’ with telephone numbers of health officials. The directory had become essential as information about fever outbreak was not conveyed to the Health Department officials at the right time, the official said.

Mobile numbers of village health nurses, district health officers, Deputy Director of Health Services and officials in Directorate of Public Health will be included in the directory.

Copies will be given to panchayat presidents and elected representatives so that they can call the authorities and alert them in cases of emergency without delay.

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