|
 Dinesh Kumar Premi, the chief medical officer in Firozabad, the most
affected district in the state, told Reuters that 58 people, many of
them children, had died in his district alone, raising fears that
Uttar Pradesh is in the midst of its worst dengue outbreak in years.
"We are taking preventive measures and 95 health camps across the
district have been operating in order to contain the spread of this
fever," Premi said.
A government official said on the condition of anonymity that many
children may have died as their poor parents first took them to fake
medical practitioners, or quacks, before their condition worsened.
While mosquito-borne dengue is the suspected cause of the deadly
viral fever outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, it has only been confirmed as
the cause of death in three cases, but an audit is underway to
determine if it is to blame for more, Ved Vrat Singh, Uttar
Pradesh's top public health officer, said.
[to top of second column] |
 Authorities in Firozabad have
formed teams to check households for water
logging, and fumigate areas at risk, while they
have also released thousands of Gambusia, or
mosquitofish, into water bodies to eat the
mosquito larvae.
Dengue deaths nationally fell to a multi-year
low of 56 last year. Uttar Pradesh reported 42
dengue deaths in 2016, its highest since 2015.
(Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
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