Dengue Outbreak Kills 14 in India
Posted on: Tuesday, 3 October 2006, 09:00 CDT
NEW DELHI - Authorities in New Delhi on Tuesday called for calm after an outbreak of dengue fever killed 14 people in northern India, including in the capital, over the past six weeks.
"There is no need to panic and we are not declaring it an epidemic yet," New Delhi Health Minister Yoganand Shastri told reporters after an emergency meeting of local government.
Shastri said that so far, in New Delhi, 497 cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been reported, and 11 people have died.
New Delhi is filled with pools of stagnating water where the insects breed - and on Monday, thousands of health workers went door to door, spraying pesticides to try to stop the disease's spread.
Shastri also advised school children to wear long-sleeve shirts to school to prevent against mosquito bites.
One of the country's premier state-run health institutes has also been hit by the disease.
At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 19 doctors and students have fallen ill with dengue, and one has died.
Shastri on Tuesday headed a meeting of local hospital administrators. He said that hospital officials would be held responsible if the disease was not brought under control there and strict action would be taken if there were found to be any lapses in tackling the situation.
An awareness campaign on preventing the spread of the disease will also be intensified, he said.
Female Aedes mosquitoes transmit the disease, and symptoms include high fever, joint pain, headache and vomiting. It is fatal in rare cases.
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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