SHILLONG: The State Government has sounded a Dengue alert after 18 people from Tura tested positive for the virus in the last couple of days.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi on Sunday informed that all the patients were discharged after treatment.
Reacting to a query, Bakshi said that the district-level medical team is distributing pamphlets to people informing them about the symptoms of Dengue and precautions to be taken to prevent the spread of the post-monsoon disease.
The district administration is also concentrating on various localities of the town including Arai Mile, Hawakhana, Forestill and others.
The first suspected case of Dengue was detected on October 18 when a young boy was brought to Tura civil hospital with symptoms of high fever, joint pain and headache.
A blood test confirmed the disease, informed officials from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, which keeps a check on possible outbreaks of diseases including Dengue.
“Most of the cases have been reported from the Araimile region of Tura,” informed health officials.
The Deputy Commissioner also informed that a state-level medical team will come to Tura from Shillong on Monday with microbiologists and they would carry out integrated disease screening.
Bakshi said that he has directed hospital authorities across the state to provide adequate treatment and medicines to those suffering from the disease.
Health officials will also undertake fogging in various localities to ensure that Aedes mosquitoes, which are responsible for the outbreak of dengue, do not find breeding ground, sources said.
Dengue is a tropical disease. Common symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains and skin rash. There is no vaccine for dengue and the only way to reduce infections is to improve hygiene levels so as to prevent mosquito bites and stop mosquitoes from breeding.
It is particularly difficult to create a vaccine because the disease is caused by different viruses and there are no animal models available for testing.
Recently, the death of at least four people due to Dengue created panic in Assam. (With inputs from Our Tura Correspondent)