Stung by the wide gap between the official count and the actual number of dengue patients in the twin-city, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has now mandated private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics to go for only ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test to confirm whether a person is down with the vector-borne fever or not.
Despite hundreds of dengue cases reported in the city, the results obtained from Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) by many medical institutions have not been accepted by the municipal corporations, leading to discrepancy in dengue data. In sharp contrast to claims of more than 650 suspected dengue patients being treated at various private hospitals in the twin-city, the figures quoted by the MBMC presents a vastly different picture. As per statistics sourced out from the health department, out of the 615 suspected cases, 40 samples were sent to the district health hospital for ELISA tests. While only 11 cases turned out to positive for dengue the remaining were only suspected cases, claims the MBMC.
Cautioning the medical fraternity not to create panic among people by treating every fever case as dengue, deputy municipal commissioner Dr Sambhaji Panpatte said, “As per norms, ELISA is the only confirmatory test for dengue patients, even as testing positive for NS1 antigen as rapid test diagnosis has to be considered as a suspect but not a confirmed case of dengue.” Meanwhile, the MBMC has confirmed one malaria and three dengue related deaths in the past three months. Apart from setting up special wards at its hospitals in Mira Road and Bhayandar, the civic administration claims to be on stand-by mode by implementing various preventive measures to tackle the menace.
About Dengue
Dengue is transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito. High fever for 4-5 days is usually accompanied by severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and rashes. After the fever goes away, the platelet counts start dipping, which is the most dangerous phase of the disease.