Dengue patients with hemorrhagic fever require several pints of blood in the initial stage of the treatment so we have alerted blood banks in the districts for preparedness, officials at EDCD said. [break]
This year, the disease has already been detected in a patient from Dang district. "We have alerted blood banks in the districts and the private hospitals," Dr GD Thakur, director of EDCD, said.
He said that the office has started taking precautionary steps. The office has even communicated with the Nepal Army and the Nepal Police about disaster management.
"We will also request to the Army and the police for blood in case of an epidemic," he added.
The office has been organizing additional training for health workers serving in the Tarai districts. Health experts have been deployed for the training. The office said that training will be organized in Jhapa, Kailali, Butwal and Chitwan.
Doctors say that dengue fever is mild like other normal fevers but 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 pain is so severe that the disease is nicknamed break-bone fever and it ultimately results in bleeding from joints all over the body.
Dr Thakur said that the EDCD has also been coordinating with private hospitals and medical colleges to manage the possible crisis.
"We have been cooperating with ten medical colleges operating in the Tarai region," added Dr Thakur. He said that an awareness campaign will be organized in the risky districts. Teachers, students, social workers, representatives of non-governmental organizations, police and army personnel, and civil society members will be mobilized to create awareness.
The office urged the people to cover the stored water at home.
Dengue vectors also reside in used tires, broken bottles, flower pots and others.
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