Dengue grips Himachal town
Shimla, July 8 : With over 110 confirmed dengue cases reported in less than a week from the town of Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, a central team is reaching there to deal with the situation, officials said on Sunday.
However, no death has been reported so far.
"A team deputed by Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda is reaching Bilaspur to ensure effective steps to check its further spread," a senior health official told IANS.
Bilaspur is Nadda's hometown.
State Health Minister Vipin Parmar is also visiting Bilaspur to take stock of the situation.
"We are taking all precautions to check further rise in the number of cases that include making people aware of the steps they need to take to minimise its spread," the official told IANS, adding there was no need to panic.
"Testing kits are available in adequate numbers in all government hospitals and dispensaries. Even private hospitals have also been directed to use the recommended kits only," he said.
The Regional Hospital in Bilaspur, some 60 km from capital Shimla, is getting five to 10 dengue cases daily.
Besides Bilaspur, the disease has spread to nearby towns like Ghumarwin and Jhanduta.
"We are monitoring the situation. We have started fogging and holding awareness campaigns to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes," Bilaspur Deputy Commissioner Vivek Bhatia said.
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.
They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
