"Some Nepalis students enrolled in Indian universities and migrant workers returning from Malaysia have brought back dengue virus with them," said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun of STIDH.Last year, over two dozen people received treatment for dengue fever in the capital. This year, however, not a single case of dengue infection within the country has been reported so far, Dr Pun said. Still, the risk of dengue outbreak in the capital persists as it is densely populated.
Significant numbers of mosquitoes that spread the disease were detected during a surveillance carried out by the government in the past. Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), which carried out the post-quake risk assessment in various quake-hit districts including the capital, said that high density of aedes larva ahead of monsoon indicated the likelihood of dengue and chikungunya outbreak during the post-monsoon season. Aedes-Aegypti mosquito, which breeds in clean water and bites people during daytime is responsible for the spread of dengue virus.
Dr Baburam Marasini, director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of the Department of Health Services (DoHS), which is responsible to contain the epidemic, said, "We are highly alert about the possible dengue epidemic."
While dengue fever is just like other normal fevers, a secondary infection is extremely dangerous as it can lead to dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). DHF starts with severe headache, muscle and joint pains, fever and rash. The joint pains are so severe that the disease is nicknamed break-bone fever and it ultimately results in bleeding from joints all over the body. Dengue had claimed more than two dozen lives in various Tarai districts in 2010.
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