dengue: Rajasthan health department gears up to tackle dengue challenge | Jaipur News

JAIPUR: A day after the Union health ministry alerted Rajasthan on the emerging challenge of Serotype-II Dengue, which is linked to more cases and complications than other forms of the disease, the state’s health department has stepped up its measures tackle the situation.

A senior health department official said they were taking measures for early detection of cases and preventing breeding of mosquitoes, however, they have intensified their measures now.
“Our department had written to all district collectors to start fogging and prevent mosquito breeding in the state. Several areas with stagnant water have turned into breeding ground for mosquitoes post rains. These need to be destroyed,” said the official.
Dengue is caused by the DENV virus, which has four different infectious serotypes, including DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4. According to experts, recovery from an infection due to a certain serotype is believed to provide lifelong immunity against that serotype.
However, cross-immunity to the other serotypes after recovery is only partial, and temporary.
The official said that if a person got infected with one serotype, but later got infected with another serotype of the virus, there were higher chances of developing severe dengue.
Hence, it was necessary to prevent its outbreak by preventing breeding of mosquitoes, which transmit the dengue virus from an infected person to a healthy individual, the official added.
Officials said people should also play their role in preventing breeding of mosquitoes in their houses.