DIMAPUR, JULY 31 (MExN): The Chief Medical Officer Dimapur has issued an advisory to the people asking them to take precautions against water borne diseases, particularly Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
“With the onset of the monsoon, many water borne and vector borne diseases are likely to occur in the district. This year with abnormally heavy showers, few cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) have been reported from different hospitals in the district. Among the vector borne diseases, JE is more serious since the mortality rate is high and the fortunate survivors are usually left with some neurological deficits,” a press release form the CMO Dimapur said.
It requested the public to observe the following few precautionary measures: Do not rear pigs close to human habitations because pigs act as an amplifying host; wear long sleeved clothing /clothing to fully cover the body while working outdoors; use mosquito net/ LLIN at night; and do not allow collection of water near your house.
It meanwhile informed that the department is also implementing the following activities under NVBDCP and UMS to control vector borne diseases in affected areas: fogging with Malathion Technical; release of larvivorous fishes in stagnant water bodies; awareness campaign; and monitoring of vector density.
For confirmatory test, blood samples may be send to Sentinel Surveillance Laboratory at District Hospital Dimapur, it added.
It may be noted that the National Weather Forecasting Centre (NWFC) has predicted more heavy rainfall for parts of Nagaland and several other states in the days extending from August 2 to 5. “Heavy to very heavy rains” are predicted for August 1 and 2, while “heavy rain” is predicted for August 3 and 4, according to the report.
